Former UFC light heavyweight titleholder Quinton “Rampage” Jackson made the jump to Bellator thus making him one of the very first big-name transitions between promotions. The inverse to Jackson would be Bellator lightweight icon Eddie Alvarez avenging his loss to Michael Chandler. A win that would be his last in Bellator as he reclaimed the title before jumping ship to the UFC. It was a rather fitting end in the Alvarez-Bellator saga as it released him of the stranglehold that former president Bjorn Rebney had held him under.
While this is just a condensed sample size of the many new major unravelings that 2013 produced, the largest was undeniably the beginning of the female competitors getting their largest spotlight. As of the upcoming Feb. 23 date, it will have been seven years ago that the UFC officially introduced the women to the Octagon.
And while that went down in 2013, the year also carried out as the first full calendar year of existence for the all-female fight promotion known as Invicta FC. Therefore leading to several champions and divisional greats being crowned. From names like Cris “Cyborg” Justino, Carla Esparza, and Michelle Waterson … to a “Little Warrior.”
“I do feel like I made my mark,” Barb Honchak told MyMMANews, “I ran dominant for three years. I was in the top 10 for such a long time but it was such a small subset of fans that paid attention to women at the time that I guess I never really felt like I left that big of a mark.”
Continued: Barb Honchak: A 'Little Warrior' with a lasting legacy
