The fate of women's mma

Mixed martial arts has been hailed as one of the fastest growing sports in the world. By far, the largest mixed martial arts business is the Ultimate Fighting Championship, or as it is better known as the UFC. To date, women have never been allowed to fight under the UFC and co-owner, Dana White, has made it very clear that women will never be allowed to fight for the UFC (as captured in the TMZ video I linked below). The closest competition to the UFC is a different fight company known as Strikeforce. Strikeforce is not nearly as well known as the UFC but they have not only allowed women to fight, but have also promoted their fights in a similar fashion as they do men. In other words, Strikeforce does not treat their female fighters any differently than they do male fighters and both perform in televised fights.
It would be fine for the UFC to chose not to incorporate women into their program, as that is their choice, but the UFC has recently bought out Strikeforce. As of now, the two companies have operated as separate entities but there have been a number of male fighters that have essentially “crossed over” to fight for the UFC. This leaves the important question, “What is the fate of women’s mma?”
The UFC has become increasingly powerful and created a stronghold in the business of mixed martial arts. I have little doubt in my mind that eventually the two companies will become unified under the UFC banner which leads me to believe that female fighters will be left to fight in much smaller independent promotions that receive little, if any, television time. I think this is extremely dangerous for women’s mma. If there is not enough exposure to the sport then less females will choose to participate which can lead to the sport dying out all together. This would be a shame because these women fighters have just as much talent as the men and are losing their opportunity to showcase it. As we have seen with many women’s sports in the past, women’s sports are on the brink of collapse because men refuse to fund or pay attention to the accomplishments these wonderful athletes have made.


http://www.tmz.com/videos?autoplay=true&mediaKey=37d12840-e861-4ce2-8fdd-37347f43b949



-Jason Hermann
Kin 338I. S6
Tu/Th 9:30 am