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MMA is leading the way in women’s sport

A lot has changed for Ronda Rousey in the last year. Will she get back to where she was in the cage? (AFP, Frederic J Brown)
Roar Guru
22nd August, 2017
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With increased participation, incredible pay increases, and a general growth in popularity, no sport is promoting the role of women more than mixed martial arts.

While some sports have long been inseparable from their female athletes – most notably tennis – the field is rapidly expanding.

Football, which since at least 1988 has had good international attention with the FIFA Women’s World Cup, is being joined by cricket, AFL, NRL and many other sports in embracing female participation.

However, no traditionally male-dominated sport is doing more for the future of women in their institutions than MMA.

When it comes to male-dominated sports, few are more ingrained with their masculine fan-base than combat sports. But, despite this, in the little over four years since Ronda Rousey was signed by the UFC, women have risen from almost complete obscurity to being some of the highest paid of all female athletes.

In fact, for the last three years, Rousey has been one of only four non-tennis players to feature in the top-ten earners.

Women now feature in almost all key events held by the UFC and Bellator. But, of course, the history of women in combat sports does not start in 2013.

Boxing has had strong female participation since the 1970s, really coming into its own in the ’90s. MMA, too, had women’s events in the ’90s, but it was not until the 2000s, with promotions such as the all-female Smackgirl and popular female bouts in Strikeforce, that they became a real draw.

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AAP Image/Joe Castro

A key milestone was Strikeforce scheduling a bout between the first real female MMA star, Gina Corano, and Brazilian fighter Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino in 2009. This fight drew in more than 850,000 views, the second most in the history of the now-defunct promotion, as Cyborg knocked out Corano in the first round.

Women’s MMA really took off in 2012, as the popular all-female franchise Invicta Fighting Championship (or simply Invicta) held its first event. Also in this year, a young Rousey beat Meisha Tate for Strickfore’s bantamweight title – and started a tidal wave.

In November of 2012, UFC president Dana White met and signed Rousey. Until that meeting, White had refused point blank to include female fighters in the UFC, the most prestigious MMA competition in the world.

In February 2013, Rousey met Liz Carmouche for the bantamweight title, seeing one of the biggest ever crowd-draws for the UFC.

Rousey’s rise was huge for women’s MMA. At the end of 2013, 11 more female stars were signed full time to the UFC, a number that has only increased.

Since Ronda’s debut at UFC157, 41 of the 58 numbered cards (71%) have included at least one female fight, including eight headliners. Since UFC 190, that number goes to 84 per cent, with only four of the last 25 cards having no women’s bouts.

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People may have thought that women in MMA would die with the downfall of Rousey, the supposed unicorn of women’s combat sport. However, since her knockout at the hands of Holly Holmes, and her 48-second outing against Amanda Nunes, women in MMA have flourished.

Nunes, the current UFC bantamweight champion, has an amazing story, and is the first openly gay champion in UFC history.

The latest event, UFC 214, included the anticipated UFC debut of former Strikeforce and Invicta champion Cris Cyborg, who won the newly minted featherweight championship. With Cyborg now tipped for an all-star fight against Holmes, and Nunes about to defend her title against Russian Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 215, women’s MMA looks stronger than ever.

The most remarkable thing about the increased prominence of women in MMA is that it comes through nothing more than a genuine desire on the part of the fans to see women’s bouts. They have seen the skills these women bring to the mat, and have overwhelmingly shown their support and approval.

The result is clear: women’s MMA is here to stay.

More than this, we now find ourselves in the odd position where perhaps the most traditionally male-orientated sport of them all, cage fighting, is leading the charge for women in sports. It is fantastic to see.

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