Ashley Cummins, Alesha Zappitella to Vie for Atomweight Crown In Invicta FC 42 Headliner

Ashley Cummins and Alesha Zappitella will square off for the vacant atomweight title in the Invicta Fighting Championships headliner on Sept. 17.

The all-female promotion announced the matchup on Monday. The 105-pound belt was vacated after previous champion Jinh Yu Frey signed with the UFC. Invicta FC 42 takes place behind closed doors in Kansas City and will utilize open scoring. The card will stream on UFC Fight Pass beginning at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.

Five other contests were confirmed for the card: Raquel Pa’aluhi vs. Lisa Verzosa at bantamweight; Jessica Correa Delboni vs. Herica Tiburcio at strawweight; Victoria Leonardo vs. Liz Tracy at flyweight; Auttumn Norton vs. Brittney Cloudy at bantamweight and Jennifer Chieng vs. Flore Hani at flyweight.

Cummins is coming off a five-round decision loss to Frey in an atomweight title bout at Invicta FC 39 on Feb. 7. Prior to that, “Smashley” had been victorious in four of her last professional appearances, with her only defeat during that period again coming at the hands of Frey.

Zappitella, meanwhile, enters the matchup riding the momentum of back-to-back triumphs over Kelly D’Angelo and Lindsey VanZandt under the Invicta banner. “Half Pint” has won four of her five promotional outings and is 7-2 with one no contest as a professional overall.