Cat Zingano Rides the Roller Coaster from Strikeforce Canellation into Invicta FC 3 Bout

To say the past couple weeks have been a roller coaster ride for women’s MMA standout Cat “Alpha” Zingano would be an understatement.

Originally scheduled to make her Strikeforce debut on the undercard of their Sept. 29 show, Zingano became a casualty of the event’s cancellation following the injury to main event headliner Gilbert Melendez.

Things however managed to work out as a couple days following the cancellation; Zingano got the call to step into Invicta FC for their Oct. 3 show in Kansas City, Kan.

“It was devastating to hear the news (of the cancellation),” said Zingano. “I didn’t feel I had finished what I started, so mainly I was just really sad. Myself, my coaches, my family, my manager, everyone had put so much work into that camp, I felt bad for everyone.

“(The Tuesday following the cancellation) my husband, Mauricio, and I were out having lunch and he said he had a gut feeling that things would work out somehow. Two hours later he got the call from my manager, Ricky (Vasquez), and everything was back in motion.”

Zingano said it didn’t take her long to get back into fight mode.

“I took the rest of that day off to gather my thoughts and refocus and woke up the next day with a lot of ‘go’ in me,” she said. “I trained hard twice that day to be ready to go (on Oct. 3).”

Originally scheduled to face Amanda Nunez at Strikeforce, Zingano will instead be facing Raquel Pennington.

When asked how the change of opponent would affect her training just over a week before Invicta, Zingano replied, “I don’t ever make strategies, I train in all areas of my game and I don’t think about what they are going to do.

“I think about what I’m going to do in a fight, so regardless of the opponent I know I trained the best I could and as hard as I could.”

While she is happy to be part of Invicta for their upcoming show, Zingano’s future resides in Strikeforce and it’s there that she’ll finally get the opportunity to show the nation why she’s one of the premier fighters in women’s MMA.

“I think what happened was unfortunate, but I’m looking forward to working with Strikeforce,” said Zingano.

“Strikeforce was kind enough to let me take this fight with Invicta, but I’m still under contract with them and will be ready to go when they decide when and where I’ll be fighting next.”

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