MMA is, as we all know, one of the fastest growing sports. I think it is only a matter of time until we really see Women in MMA. There are female fighters competing in small leagues currently, but as of yet MMA stands as a man’s sport. What do you guys think about a women’s division on a UFC/Pride level? Do you think it’s possible and do you think this sort of female competition can draw crowds? Can women compete with men (similar weight classes?)? OR, do you see female MMA going the way of the WNBA.
There’s female boxing and kickboxing, and there’s female juijitsu, I don’t see why there can’t be female MMA. It won’t be as popular, but it won’t be the joke the the WNBA is.
Give me a break that was setup for her to win. Lets find a small weak guy with no striking or ground skills and make her look great beating a man for the hometown crowd. Probably one of those shmoes that likes being beat up by roided up chicks. Way to make the sport look stupid.
That’s such a lose lose situation for the guy. Guess he needed the money.
As for ladies in mma, I’m all for it. Ladies vs Ladies.
I see no problem with women’s MMA. I think there is a promotion called “Smackgirl” that runs in Japan. It will never be as big as the men’s side of the sport though, just like women’s boxing. Most of the popular fighters will be relatives of the popular men fighters, like Kyra Gracie. Ask someone to name some women pro boxers, they will say “Layla Ali”, then stare at you blankly.
[quote]BuZu wrote:
I think it is only a matter of time until we really see Women in MMA… What do you guys think about a women’s division on a UFC/Pride level? Do you think it’s possible and do you think this sort of female competition can draw crowds? Can women compete with men (similar weight classes?)?
[/quote]
My answer to the first question (whether women’s MMA is ever going to really catch on) is just to tell you to look at the example of women’s boxing. Unlike MMA, boxing (men’s boxing) has a very long history in the American and international mainstream. For more than a century the heavyweight boxing champion has been an international celebrity, and yet no one has been able to figure out how to promote female boxing except as a sort of novelty act. Even Laila Ali, who is pretty and charming and actually has some skills, is forced to fight Foreman’s daughter, who’s barely ever even seen the inside of a ring, just for the name factor.
As for women competing with men in similar weight classes, my only frame of reference comes from boxing in which the answer is if the man has any reasonable degree of fighting ability there’s no way the woman should be able to hang with him no matter how advanced she is.
A boxing coach I used to work for in college trained a woman who went on to become the national Golden Gloves champion in her weight class. Since we didn’t really have any other women in the gym, we were always having trouble finding sparring partners for her, but the couple times we matched her up with men of the same weight (and we went out of our way to choose guys who were pretty weak and inexperienced) she got absolutely destroyed (I was quite surprised by this actually, given how good she was).
My instinct is that in MMA the disparity would be at least as extreme… maybe some of the grapplers, etc., on here can weigh in on that.
I think personally that if a woman and a man show talent or match each other in the same weight class, and both want to fight, it should be sanctioned. I think that sports generally tend to filter themselves out and there is a huge disparity between men and women and many physical activities. But I don’t agree about segregation and putting up restrictions, if there is a want, it sould be facilitated. If there is a woman out there who can be a hell of a pro league pitcher then why stop it before giving it a chance?
Great posts guys, especially showing the disparity in boxing skills.
Lik Donut said we have “SmackGirl” here in Japan. They also have women’s matches at Shooto.
The best Japanese woman fighter is Fuji Megumi. She teaches kids wrestling near me. She was an All Japan Sambo Champion from 98-05. World Sambo Championships she won a silver medal. In the ADCC she won a a bronze in the under 60kg class.
She teaches at AACC(Abe Ani Combat Club, which has top ranked Shooto fighters). Josh Barnett is known to hang out and train with them.
[quote]WhiteCaesar wrote:
BuZu wrote:
I think it is only a matter of time until we really see Women in MMA… What do you guys think about a women’s division on a UFC/Pride level? Do you think it’s possible and do you think this sort of female competition can draw crowds? Can women compete with men (similar weight classes?)?
My answer to the first question (whether women’s MMA is ever going to really catch on) is just to tell you to look at the example of women’s boxing. Unlike MMA, boxing (men’s boxing) has a very long history in the American and international mainstream. For more than a century the heavyweight boxing champion has been an international celebrity, and yet no one has been able to figure out how to promote female boxing except as a sort of novelty act. Even Laila Ali, who is pretty and charming and actually has some skills, is forced to fight Foreman’s daughter, who’s barely ever even seen the inside of a ring, just for the name factor.
As for women competing with men in similar weight classes, my only frame of reference comes from boxing in which the answer is if the man has any reasonable degree of fighting ability there’s no way the woman should be able to hang with him no matter how advanced she is.
A boxing coach I used to work for in college trained a woman who went on to become the national Golden Gloves champion in her weight class. Since we didn’t really have any other women in the gym, we were always having trouble finding sparring partners for her, but the couple times we matched her up with men of the same weight (and we went out of our way to choose guys who were pretty weak and inexperienced) she got absolutely destroyed (I was quite surprised by this actually, given how good she was).
My instinct is that in MMA the disparity would be at least as extreme… maybe some of the grapplers, etc., on here can weigh in on that. [/quote]
I wouldn’t wanna punch a girl and go all out to MURDER HER. If your going to fight, its war. You want total domination. It just wouldn’t feel right beating the fuck outta a girl. Even if the guy and girl are same weight…the guy is DEFIANETLY going to be stronger.
I don’t believe women (particularly in lighter weight classes) wouldn’t be able to compete effectively with men. One of my Muay Thai instructors was a 5 foot, one hundred and five pound woman that beat the absolute crap out of me almost everytime. I’m a foot taller, and over a hundred and fifty pounds heavier.
Grappling wasn’t a part of training, and I’m sure I’d be able to dominate her in a clinch, but like I said, I outweigh her by close to two hundred pounds. When matched with men my own size, I did pretty decent within the rules of the match, by my instructor was so fast I just couldn’t compare.
I personally think she’d do just fine against a lot of men her size (although finding an adult male thats a hundred and five pounds could be tough!). World champion? I doubt it. Total domination? Absolutely not.
That was a definate setup. The guy had no skills and no strength. She would go down like a ton of bricks if she fought someone with skills and strength.
