Invicta FC's Knapp on all-female 'TUF 20' season: Like being a proud parent

(This story appears in today’s edition of USA TODAY.)

Invicta FC President Shannon Knapp shies away from picking favorites on “The Ultimate Fighter 20.” Having once promoted several members of this season’s all-female cast, she looks at them as her kids.

“If you’ve been my athlete, male or female, even once, you’re always my athlete,” Knapp, who also previously worked for the UFC, tells USA TODAY Sports and MMAjunkie.

Eleven of the 16 contestants on “TUF 20,” the latest season of the UFC’s long-running reality series, have fought within the Invicta cage, so there’s a good chance a fighter developed by Knapp will emerge not only as the winner of a single-elimination tournament, but the UFC’s first titleholder at 115 pounds (strawweight). The season, which kicks off Wednesday (FOX Sports 1, 10 p.m. ET), features the unique conceit of putting a title up for grabs in a single-elimination tournament.

Then again, previous casts have proven time and again that hungry newcomers can easily upset the vets on the tense reality show set.

“An environment like this is pretty unique, so even the ones who did have Invicta experience like (former Invicta champ) Carla Esparza, it’s still completely different once you’re in that ‘TUF’ house and you’ve got all the cameras around and people watching you at the TUF Training Center,” says women’s MMA expert Robert Sargent, who compiles the Unified Women’s MMA Rankings for MMARising.com and contributes to MMAjunkie.

Like most seasons of “TUF,” the rumor mill is already going strong for what’s to come in the 12-week reality series, which wrapped filming this past month in Las Vegas. There’s word of an extracurricular fight involving cast member Felice Herrig, and UFC President Dana White has teased the potential of Ronda Rousey, the UFC’s first (and to date, only) female champion, making a guest appearance.

Knapp and Sargent agree that Esparza is one to watch, but there are others who will stand out as potential champions. Some, though, will stand out for what they do outside the cage.

“From what I’ve heard, there’s quite a lot of verbal fighting that goes on in the show,” Sargent says. “A lot of that is these newer fighters thinking that’s going to be their way to make a mark on the show. But I have a feeling that’s going to backfire on some of them, and then it might wind up being tougher for them to get fights after the show.”

In any event, the UFC can thank Knapp for developing a sizable chunk of the talent on display. Four cast members – Joanne Calderwood, Tecia Torres, Justine Kish and Angela Hill – bring undefeated records to the competition. Esparza, Calderwood, Torres and Herrig also are ranked among the world’s top 10 female strawweights.

Not so long ago, women’s fighting in the UFC octagon was reserved for Rousey and the 135-pound bantamweights, but a new troop is on its way.

“To look over and see that they get this opportunity, and that I had a hand in that, it’s like being a parent and being incredibly proud,” Knapp says. “I’m happy for each and every one of them.”

For more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.