It is a huge step for the premier place for women’s combat sports as Invicta FC announced that they would be streaming their Phoenix Rising Series Event on UFC Fight Pass. Invicta FC has long been home of some of the greatest female fighters in the world,  and this new tournament that they will have Phoenix Rising Series; a one-night, eight-woman tournament format that brings the sport of MMA back to its roots.

The Phoenix Rising Series will be a single-elimination tournament that will feature one-round fights in the quarter and semifinal rounds, with the tournament final being a three-round bout that will determine the tournament champion.

There will be eight tournament participants that will be matched up during a random draw prior to the event.

Those fighters that make the quarterfinal rounds will have an incentive to finish their fights for multiple reasons. The first is to earn a winning a monetary bonus, but the most important incentive is the fact that they will have a shot a picking their opponent for the semifinals based on the remaining three combatants. If there are no finishes in the quarterfinals, the semifinal match-ups will again be determined by random draw.

The first event of the Phoenix Rising Series will take place from Kansas City’s Memorial Hall on Friday, May 3 and stream exclusively on UFC Fight Pass. The inaugural tournament will take place in the strawweight division and the field of eight fighters features numerous title challengers and UFC veterans.

Some of the fighters set for the Phoenix Rising Series event will feature Japan’s Mizuki Inoue (13-5) and Brazil’s Janaisa Morandin (10-2) who have been two of the challenges for the Invicta gold and are hungry for another shot at the title.  Danielle Taylor (10-4), Juliana Lima (9-5) and Kailin Curran (4-6) are some of the other star’s set to take the stage in what will be an action packed tournament.

There will also be some fresh faces for the broadcast team as post-fight correspondent and former Invicta fighter Laura Sanko will make history by becoming the first woman to call play-by-play for a major promotion. Joining Sanko on the call will be veteran cageside analyst Jimmy Smith, who has called fights for many of the sports biggest promotions.

A tournament reserve match-up, as well as one, non-tournament bout—also in the 115-pound division—will be added to the fight card in the coming weeks.

Here is added information for the fans that are interested: