Kaitlin Young learned a lot as Invicta FC matchmaker. Now she's returning to the cage to put it to good use

When Kaitlin Young decided that she was ready to resume a full-time MMA fighting career, she knew she needed to have a talk with her boss, Invicta FC President Shannon Knapp.

The two of them had long had an understanding that while it was fine for Young to pursue professional kickboxing bouts while she worked as Invicta FC’s matchmaker, it would be a problem if she ever returned to fighting in MMA.

“I totally understand that,” Young told MMAjunkie. “If I was a manager, I wouldn’t want to share information with a matchmaker who my fighter might end up fighting some day soon.”

But after a victorious return to MMA in a fight with Japan’s Rizin FF promotion in early August, Young (8-9-1) couldn’t put it off any longer. As much as she’d enjoyed her time as Invicta FC’s matchmaker, she said, it was time for her to give up the job and get back in the cage, herself.

Fortunately, she had an understanding boss who’d more or less seen it coming.

“I get it,” Knapp said. “Especially the way her division is shaping up, I think she would be missing a great opportunity if she didn’t do this. That division needs athletes, and she can be an important one.”

Young will make the transition official when she takes on Invicta FC newcomer Zarah Fairn dos Santos (6-2) in a featherweight bout on Nov. 16, according to Knapp. It will be Young’s first Invicta FC bout since she stepped away from the promotion in 2014 following a four-fight losing streak.

“I was not performing well,” said Young. “What was so frustrating was, I was better in the gym than how I was fighting. I was kind of at a loss trying to figure it out. I just remember feeling like, if I don’t figure out how to crack this code and perform the way I know I can, then it’s going to eat at me for the rest of my life.”

That quest took Young to new gyms, new coaches, and into the ring as a kickboxer. Those bouts went largely unnoticed by the combat sports world, Young pointed out, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. It gave her the chance to hone her own mental game outside of the spotlight.

After beating Reina Miura via unanimous decision at Rizin FF 12, she knew she was ready to give MMA another shot, and she couldn’t imagine doing it anywhere but in Invicta FC. But this time, Young said, she approaches her career with the knowledge gained from working as a matchmaker for the promotion.

“The matchmaker role really gave me a lot of perspective,” Young said. “You learn a lot by sitting and watching and assessing fighters. We’re not all so different. It made me a lot more objective about myself.”

But that objectivity means that Young knows how others probably see her now. A fighter who’s nearly 33, with a losing record overall as a professional, tends to be someone who gets written off as yesterday’s news, and Young knows that better than most.

“If I was looking at myself coming in, I’d think, ‘she’s probably past her prime and she’s done what she’s going to do,’” Young said.

But she also insisted that the perspective she’s gained in recent years has benefitted her in ways that aren’t immediately apparent to someone who’s just looking at the numbers and doing the math. Knapp doesn’t disagree.

“I think Kaitlyn learned a lot of stuff over here,” said Knapp. “I think she got to see all sides of it, which is an opportunity most fighters don’t get. I also think she’s coming at it with a lot more maturity now, and people don’t always realize how big a difference that can make for a fighter. I mean, look at Roxanne Modafferi and the revival she’s having in the UFC.”

One of the things she learned, Young said, is that fighters are sometimes their own worst enemies, and in a sport where they can least afford to be.

“It makes you more sympathetic to promoters, being on this side,” Young said. “There are shady ones, but fighters sometimes bite the hands that feed. They don’t always realize they’re doing it. I’ve been that person before, without realizing I was doing it. There are also a lot more people in this sport than I realized who are trying to take advantage of other people. And it’s not just promoters and managers doing it. Sometimes fighters are the ones doing it, and that’s really unfortunate. It’s been very eye-opening, being on this side of the sport.”

This time, Young said, her efforts come with the knowledge that her career has an expiration date that’s not too far in the future. She’s glimpsed it, both in her own fighting life and in those of other fighters, and she knows how the mechanisms of the sport can treat those in it.

“There’s something about having the perspective I have now and knowing that it’s my last dance, I can enjoy it now,” Young said. “I feel like I’ve found that missing piece and it’s just about seeing what I can do with it. I want to get to the absolute top of my division. That’s my goal.”

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

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