Cyborg vs. The Immortal Invicta FC 13 Have Faith in “The Immortal”
The fight card for Invicta FC 13 was officially announced today. With a Featherweight title bout between current champion Brazil’s Cris “Cyborg” Justino versus New Zealand’s Faith ‘The Immortal” Van Duin headlining the event, which was all but confirmed after Invicta FC 12 when Van Duin impressively submitted Amanda Bell via submission in the opening minute of the second round, in a choke famously dubbed the “Faith choke” by Invicta FC commentator and match maker Julie Kedzie.
It’s a relief to finally have this bout announced officially as all the talk about a fight between Cyborg and current undefeated UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey has been getting a little excessive and tiring. That fight could potentially be up to two years away from happening. While I understand the anticipation for the super fight, I feel not enough attention has been payed to Cyborg’s upcoming Invicta FC title defence against the very talented, tough and game challenger Faith Van Duin.
This is for a number of reasons. The first and most obvious is the fact that Faith is a relative new comer to the sport, with it only being just over three years since she first stepped into a martial arts gym. The second is the fact that international audiences are unfamiliar with her talents as they have only been exposed to one of her fights thus far, which was the aforementioned bout against Bell at Invicta 12 in Kansas City earlier this year. Her other five professional fights took place in the Oceania region with one in her native country of New Zealand and the other four in the Storm Damage MMA promotion in Australia. The final reason I fear is that everyone including Cyborg herself are looking straight past Faith and expect her to win easily and convincingly and then transition into the UFC.
I on the other hand think differently and here is why. Faith is currently ranked as the number four featherweight fighter in the world in the unified women’s MMA rankings. Her record is 5-1 with her only loss coming against the number five ranked featherweight Arlene Blencowe in what was a very tough battle, with Faith going down in the third round after going toe to toe with the former world champion boxer, who had a severe weight advantage during the fight, as well as the advantage of fighting in her home country.
Faith’s first professional win came via rear naked choke against Kelly Kinita in April 2013. Faith then flew over to Australia in August that year to compete in Storm Damage MMA’s all women eliminator tournament where she fought three times in the one night, an extremely impressive accomplishment. She won her first fight by TKO in the first round in a dominant fashion against Michelle Peruzzi. She then faced Blencowe for the first time and won in a questionable spilt decision where I believe Faith won two of the rounds convincingly and the other being too close to call. Her next fight that night was against the currently ranked number fifteen flyweight in the world Kate Da Silva. Silva is a former teammate of Faith’s making the fight a pure grudge match. Faith won impressively via triangle choke in the fourth round against Da Silva whom only weeks later would receive her black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu after the better part of a decade training in jiu jitsu, where as Faith only had around eighteen months experience and a blue belt at the time. Additionally Faith had two amateur fights winning both in the first round via rear naked choke, she has also had two Muay Thai fights winning both and is the New Zealand National champion in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
Why her record is impressive and some might say its nothing compared to Cyborg’s and the quality of opponents differ drastically. There is no denying Faith is talented and has worked hard to get to where she is and its impressive to see a woman who first stepped into a gym only three years ago and made her intentions to be the world champion clear from day one get that shot in such a short time. Faith has yet to scratch the surface of her talent in a fight and hasn’t even come close to unleashing her full potential. She has toughness about her and a heart that has yet to be tested. There is no doubt Cyborg will be her biggest challenge to date but Faith has game to call her out after her first Invicta FC fight and obviously Invicta FC president Shannon Knapp and matchmaker Kedzie see and believe in Faith’s talent and potential to be a future champion in the division.
To all the doubters I don’t disagree with you that Cyborg is the number two pound for pound fighter in the world right now and is an opponent to be feared, but I say to you underestimate Faith at your own peril this single mother of two has the heart of a champion the soul of a warrior and a legion of loyal followers. She wont be denied her moment to rise and shine. This will be a battle for the ages and I assure you Faith will deserve your respect after this fight and people will soon forget about Cyborg vs. Ronda and will be anticipating Faith’s first title defence.
Tune in July 9 for Invicta FC 13 Cyborg vs. The Immortal in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA during international fight week to see this exciting showdown where I have faith that a new champion of the world will be crowned!.
Full fight card below:
Featherweight Title: Cris “Cyborg” Justino (13-1, 1 NC) vs. Faith Van Duin (5-1)
Bantamweight Title: Tonya Evinger (15-5) vs. Irene Aldana (5-1)
Atomweight Title: Herica Tiburcio (9-2) vs. Ayaka Hamasaki (11-1)
Bantamweight: Pannie Kianzad (7-0) vs. Jessica-Rose Clark (5-1)
Atomweight: Amber Brown (4-1) vs. Catherine Costigan (5-0)
Strawweight: Amy Montenegro (6-1) vs. Jamie Moyle (2-0)
Featherweight: Marina Shafir (1-1) vs. Amber Leibrock (0-0)
About the Author:
Jarryd O’Keefe is a mixed martial artist specializing in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai and Jeet Kune Do. He previously studied Karate when he worked as a Self-defence consultant for Go-Kan-Ru Karate International in 2010. Jarryd is the owner of OK Media Productions. He graduated with honours in L&L (literacy) from T.A.F.E. Brisbane. He is currently a full time university student studying screen and media production at SAE creative media institute in Brisbane, Australia.
(55)