The Growing Wave of Females in MMA

by Mike Fagan on Sep 27, 2008 3:34 PM EDT in News Comment 11 comments

Julie Kedzie's nose bleeds again, and her hair's a mess. Wisps of it have come free from her tight cornrows. She works hard to catch her breath.

Still, the professional mixed martial arts fighter beams like a cheerleader at the top of the pyramid. It's a clear case of "You should see the other guy."

The referee has called a stop to Kedzie's fight with Julia Berezekova at the Ice Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia. The packed venue erupts as Kedzie raises her arms in victory.

And so begins an article by my friend, Susan Brackney (non-pdf version here). I point the article out because not only is this a focus piece on women's MMA, but it can be found in an issue of Indianapolis Woman.

Brackney's article is more the exception to the rule at this point, but I believe MMA has a certain appeal towards women that isn't available through other sports. You don't have the complex rules of traditonal stick-and-ball sports. (note: I am not a sexist, nor do I believe women are incapable of understanding what goes on at a sporting event. However, our culture heavily leans sports towards men, and if you don't grow up watching sports, it's harder to understand what is going on. For instance, most Americans have no idea what is going on in a cricket match, male of female. End defensive rant.) Fighters aren't covered head-to-toe like in football and, to an extent, baseball. While it's as violent as boxing, you don't have many scenarios where guys get knocked down and get back up over-and-over making even the most manly of men squirmish.

While old-school boxing guys may see the grappling element of MMA as two guys rolling around in pseudo-homo erotic lovemaking, I believe it is exactly what attracts females to the sport over boxing. No longer are you simply watching two guys swinging at each other (an obvious oversimplification of the sweet science), but you are watching a highly strategic fight with a lot more visually obvious skill and technique.

I hope this article is part of a continuing trend of women becoming involved with MMA. Speaking strictly economically, you're adding a gigantic largely-untapped market getting women interested in the sport. Plus, who wouldn't want their girlfriend to sit down and watch some fighting rather than getting glares for sitting on the couch all day on Sunday?

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Thank you for linking to Ms Brackney’s article. The one thing that annoys me when I shell out my hard-earned money for a UFC ppv is that they lack a women’s division. Just for that reason, I hope EliteXC survives.

FWIW, when I first began watching mma at a local sports bar (UFC 66, Dec 2006), the ratio was 95/5 men to women, now it’s about 60/40, with lots of couples.

Mich
http://maspikteruzim.wordpress.com

by Michal on Sep 27, 2008 8:47 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

It is sooooo true.

From 2003 when i met my wife till now I have converted her to an mma fan. She may not be hardcore, but she knows a helluva lot mroe then the average joe. The whole appeal for her is the tactics. At first when I began my training she couldn’t understand it, but when i was getting tapped out by guys half my size, she begun to really like the ground, and now she’s fully supportive of me wanting to fight (even critical).

The appeal is there, and I think one thing many women (like my wife) who may not care to trade blows can appreciate is the ground. espescially in a society like ours where women are expected to be effeminete, and thought of as dainty, it’s an easy transition for women who do have that less violent mindset. Not to say some women don’t like to roll up there sleeves and swing for the fences, But like many of the grapplers we see in mma, full on brawls aren’t for everyone.

Great article, and I’m a firm beleiver in female fighters. I have trained with some talented women, and look forward to the day when those bouts turn mainstream.

by JaeeJaee on Sep 27, 2008 10:54 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

MMA is the perfect combat sport for women.

So much of the sport is based on the ability of each fighter to maximize their individual strengths, and minimize weaknesses. A sport like boxing really does depend on a base-line level of athletic ability, which is simple absent in the vast majority of women. Hand-speed and delivered power are things which really can’t be trained into a person. You either have the ability to deliver a one-punch KO or you don’t, so women’s boxing will never be the same as men’s boxing.

But grappling and submission game, those are things which women can execute just as well, pound-for-pound, as their counterparts. Pretty much all of the wrestling/BJJ technical game can be taught and learned. Some people are more agile than others, of course this is true, but the difference isn’t as significant as can be present in boxing when it comes to chin and hand-speed.

So as a spectator, and fan of the sport, I think MMA is a fantastic arena for women’s combat sports. Women’s fights can be just as entertaining from the technical side as men’s fights. Of course the raw KO power isn’t there, but the overall talent is much lower as well, and as long as the fights are competitive there will be support for it.

There just isn’t as much encouragement for high-level women’s athletics in the world. Most people would say ‘in our society,’ and that’s certainly part of it, but what society promotes women’s sports at a higher level than men’s? I’m genuinely curious if there are any major sports which are more heavily promoted for women than men, because I’m coming up completely blank. I, for one, see this as a sport where women can thrive. And Gina Carano is showing that you can still be feminine while demolishing opponents, which will certainly appeal to the target demographic.

There is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt.

by misterjonez on Sep 28, 2008 11:18 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I find the things that some women can do in the ground game remarkable. That’s one of the reasons I’ve become a big fan of Shayna Baszler. I hope she’s able to bounce back soon from her loss to Cyborg. What women need is a solid platform to show their skills. Most of the organizations that feature female MMA are on shaky ground. That, itself, makes it difficult for their side of the sport to flourish. While I believe Gina Carano offers female MMA a lot, the sport has to advance other names. The Yankees in the MLB and the Cowboys in the NFL can’t lift their sports without notable competition.

by Cannon Jacques on Sep 28, 2008 12:03 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I agree that there need to be more names out there than just Gina.

But really, you only need a small handful of truly marketable stars in order to have a thriving image. They can certainly accomplish that.

The truly wonderful/exciting/excellent aspect of MMA is that it forces evolution. Fast evolution. If a given group of fighters (men, women, large, small, etc..) comes up short in one department, such as power, then they have literally no choice but to improve other aspects of the game. I think this benefits women quite a bit, since they do have quite a few limitations, physically, compared to men. Those limitations don’t need to mean anything at all if they adhere to the culture and lifestyle of MMA:

Evolve or die.

There is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt.

by misterjonez on Sep 28, 2008 7:46 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Women’s tennis is arguably as or more popular than men’s. Maybe women’s beach volleyball as well. That’s about it though, as far as I know.

by Mike Fagan on Sep 28, 2008 10:22 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Duh...

on the women’s beach volleyball. Who want’s to watch dudes in swimwear? It’s funny, but yet very cool, that the women must wear bikinis – even in the Olympics. Actually, I hadn’t thought of that example. It has become quite popular as of late.

by Cannon Jacques on Sep 28, 2008 11:00 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I know that in Tennis they are given equal exposure,

at least during competition. But the payouts are still not comensurate with the men, which has less to do with The Man holding women down, and more to do with their overall drawing power. You can only blame so much of that on marketing strategy, because ultimately, these companies want to make money. If women were the better draw, they’d rise to the top of the food chain financially.

Your point is well-taken, however. There is no question that women’s tennis has received a much larger portion of the marketing focus in the last ten years, and it seems to be paying off. I hadn’t thought of volleyball, mostly because it seems to be ‘seasonal,’ not in terms of time of year, but it goes in and out of favor pretty often, at least as far as I can recall. But absolutely, that is a specific sport which both men and women compete in, and women FAR outstrip the men in marketability.

There is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt.

by misterjonez on Sep 29, 2008 12:01 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

You're right...

in my opinion. I think EXC has failed miserably in advancing other women. They don’t necessarily have to have the same type of appeal as Gina. A little variety would probably open up MMA to more people. You’re really putting yourself in a box if you need one specific type of personality to survive. As you said, you don’t need a plethora of stars, just more than one or two.

by Cannon Jacques on Sep 28, 2008 8:00 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Damn.

I meant this as a reply to misterjonez.

by Cannon Jacques on Sep 28, 2008 8:00 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Right.

Gina can (and judging all evidence *should*) be the face of women’s MMA. But there has to be a foil to her, and the truth is that nobody has been marketed at all for these roles. Tito was never a hero-type for the fans, he was the self-declared Huntington Beach Bad Boy. I don’t think women’s MMA is ready for that type of high-profile personality yet, since introducing it right now probably destroys the stereotype they’re trying to build through Carano (humble, unassuming, and extremely competent) and replaces it with the Mega-Bitch label. A woman like KKG pretty much fits perfectly into that mold, and if that’s what women’s MMA was ‘about,’ it wouldn’t survive for very long.

I think at first they need to have the humble samurai perception in the public eye. Show these women for what they really are, that being committed athletes who thrive on conflict and excel at improving themselves, but understand their place in the world (for God’s sake, leave the anti-sexism remarks at the door) just as all honorable fighters appear to. Once they establish this as the baseline, then they can introduce the Mega-Bitch and have her/them square off on the Gina-types. That’s the kind of drama they need to be able to build towards.

Introducing and magnifying the villains would, at this point, cause long-term (and possible irreparable) harm to the fledgling sport that is women’s MMA. But they do need to build up some more stars pronto.

There is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt.

by misterjonez on Sep 28, 2008 9:43 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs