(GIF via r/MMA)

Invicta FC 8 aired on UFC Fight Pass last night.

A Fight Pass deal was a welcomed development. Invicta finally had a stable medium to broadcast their shows on…or so we thought.

After a pretty entertaining card, the stream froze shortly into the main event, which pitted Michelle Waterson against Yasuko Tamada.

People were understandably upset, though some tried to justify the stream going down by saying the phone stream was intact. The stream bounced back for about 10 seconds in the third round and then froze again. It didn’t come back (at least not for us) until Mike Schiavello was saying goodbye to everyone. From what we did see of the main event, Waterson looked incredible. She was agile, her strikes were lightning quick and she was unloading fierce combinations on Tamada. Tamada, on the other hand, looked like she was about 60 years old. We’re not kidding either. Her age is unknown. She had to be close to 40 at least. Outside of the fact that she was slow, her skill set was anemic. Waterson destroyed her.

Overall, the event was pretty good if you ignore the stream collapsing at the end (bad streams must be some kind of Invicta curse).

(Honestly? I still think Frankie wins this one seven times out of ten. / Photo via TitoCouture)

Yesterday, Shannon Knapp announced that Invicta FC 8 (September 6th; Kansas City, MO) will be the first Invicta event to air live on Fight Pass, and will be headlined by two title fights — Michelle Waterson defending her atomweight belt against Yasuko Tamada, and Stephanie Eggink fighting Katja Kankaanpaa for the promotion’s vacant strawweight title. The card will also feature Roxanne Modafferi vs. Tara LaRosa, Ediane Gomes vs. Tonya Evinger, and the return of Veronica Rothenhausler in a 155-pound bout against Charmaine Tweet.

One notable absence from the stacked all-female card is Invicta FC featherweight champion Cris Cyborg, who hasn’t competed in an MMA bout since last July. But there’s a good reason for that — Cyborg is in the process of transitioning to 135 pounds. As MMAJunkie reports:

“Cyborg” Justino is targeted for Invicta FC 10 against a TBA opponent, Invicta FC President Shannon Knapp said. She was targeted on two previous occasions to meet Ediane Gomes before injuries and event scheduling nixed the matchup. Justino could make her second appearance at 135 pounds in February or March, Knapp added.

It’s not yet decided whether Justino will vacate her current Invicta FC featherweight title, Knapp said…A date is not yet set for Invicta FC 10, which is expected to stream live on UFC Fight Pass as part of the all-female MMA promotion’s multi-year deal with the UFC’s digital network.

To aid Justino’s drop from her natural featherweight class, at which she’s fought since battering Gina Carano to win the title in the now-defunct Strikeforce, manager George Prajin said she will work with Tony Aponte, a performance and conditioning specialist who’s worked with ex-UFC champ B.J. Penn and Heath Herring, among others.