Hannibal Buress had never heard of Invicta FC before purchasing tickets for a championship fight series in January 2017. The actor-comedian had recently become a fan of UFC, and he just wanted to watch as much MMA as possible. So when he found an online advertisement for a fight in Kansas City, he booked a flight and flew to Missouri without giving it much thought.

"I really just wanted to watch some people fight," he said by phone last month. "I immediately noticed how intimate the venue was, it probably held about a thousand people. You could hear everything. I'd been to a bunch of UFC events, and those are in goddamn basketball arenas, so this was just different."

It was love at first fight.

"I loved the grittiness of [Invicta]," Buress said. "I was amazed because so many of the fighters from the earlier part of the card came out and watched the rest after their fights and took pictures with fans. You just don't see that anywhere else."

When he's not watching MMA, Buress is starring in movies, television shows and comedy specials. Jerritt Clark/Getty Images

Some 18 months later, he's not only one of the biggest fans of the women's-only MMA promotion, but he's also a loyal and highly visible sponsor.

Soon after that first fight, Buress blindly reached out to Invicta to see how he could get involved. The 35-year-old, who stars in the film "Tag" and the Comedy Central series "Broad City," noticed all of the banners and logos displayed at the fights -- everything from car dealerships to law firms -- and thought it could be a different way to promote some of his upcoming projects, like the comedy tours and specials he headlines, through his website.

Invicta was quick to agree, and while the exact monetary amounts have not been disclosed, they were clearly excited to partner with him.

"Hannibal wanted to see how he could use his platform to help shine a light on our organization and our athletes," said Invicta President Shannon Knapp in an email. "For someone so in demand to take a personal interest in promoting Invicta is a tremendous sign of respect and is, quite frankly, humbling.

"We're proud to be associated with such a talented performer and hope his involvement will inspire others to follow suit and continue to open doors for women in sports."

Once Buress got the go-ahead from Knapp and Invicta, he quickly got to work. He initially decided to sponsor a fighter, and researched everyone listed on the card for Invicta FC 22 in March 2017. Ultimately he picked Janaisa "Evil Princess" Morandin, a then-undefeated strawweight from Brazil, after watching her highlights and liking her placement in the card. "I thought the headliners would be too expensive, and I didn't want anyone too early in the night," he said.

Buress then enlisted the designers that work on his website to come up with a logo Morandin could wear in the ring. He thought it would be "very silly" to use his face, and his team did not disappoint with their creation.

A post shared by Invicta Fighting Championships (@invictafc) on Mar 24, 2017 at 8:40am PDT

Unfortunately for Buress, Morandin didn't make weight and was unable to fight. He still attended the event, but he was disappointed by her absence.

"It was rough because I was so excited and there was so much buildup," he said. "I was prepared for any other result but that. I knew [Morandin] could potentially lose, but she still would be wearing my outfit. So, I had thought, 'If she wins, it's great, if she loses, it's not ideal, but it's still promotion.' I didn't even consider the idea of her missing weight and not fighting at all.

"It was extremely tough, way tougher for her obviously, but I had been so excited about the whole process, as I do with new ideas and developing them to execution. For a while I didn't look into sponsoring any more. It took the wind out of my sails."

However, he wouldn't be deterred for long. A few months later, he reached out about being a sponsor for an event-at-large, and not just a specific fighter. Invicta was more than happy to oblige. His face, the logo for HannibalBuress.com, appeared inside the ring for Invicta FC 28 in Salt Lake City, Utah in March. He wasn't able to attend but watched on his laptop while he was in Puerto Rico.

What's it like seeing your face everywhere during a fight? "Super surreal," according to Hannibal Buress. Dave Mandel/Invicta FC

"Watching that fight, it was so crazy," he said. "Even though I went through the proper channels to get it done and the business was on the up, and up, it felt like I snuck in stuff. With it being just my face and no text or anything, and being so different from all the other sponsors, it was just really weird.

"It was especially strange when there would be a huge hit or some big action, and then see my face right there. It was a super surreal experience."

Since the fight, and his face's big moment, he has heard from a number of fighters from other promotions (mostly through direct message on Instagram) asking if he would consider sponsoring them. He has yet to agree, but his face will be back in the ring during Saturday's Invicta FC 30 in Kansas City.

"I'm a medium-famous comedian," he said with a laugh. "I'm not just going to sponsor some 1-and-0 fighter that's not a family member of mine. You've got to prove lineage to get that sponsorship at 1-0, or that '1' better have been a crazy win.

"For me, I like doing different sh-t and just mixing it up a little bit. It's genuinely something I enjoy, so, being able to be part of a sport I enjoy, especially Invicta, it's great. Since I went to that first fight, I've followed a lot of the fighters. I watched Megan Anderson that night, and now she's in the UFC, she just lost to Holly Holm [at UFC 225]. Watching that career progression is cool to see, and, honestly, it's pretty fun to see your face out there too."