Female Mixed Martial Arts: The Long Road To Legitimacy

Although women have competed in mixed martial arts since at least the early 1990s, my introduction to WMMA (women's mixed martial arts) was in August 2009, when Gina Carano, then known as "The Face of WMMA", fought Cristiane Santos in an entertaining, albeit lopsided bout that ended in a victory for the all-conquering force now well known to MMA fans as "Cris Cyborg". Unfortunately, then as now, the majority of fan comments have centered around the physical attractiveness of WMMA competitors (or lack thereof), ignoring the many sacrifices these women have made in their commitment to the sport. Throughout social media, there are countless posts wherein male mixed martial arts fans praise fighters such as Stipe Miocic, Daniel Cormier, and Conor McGregor, but when the subject turns to the women's division, the responses quickly and overwhelmingly veer into sexist comments and general mockery.

Recently, when a friend on an MMA forum commented that he wasn't interested in the upcoming UFC women's bantamweight championship fight between Amanda Nunes and Valentina Schevchenko because the champion is "a wannabe man" and the challenger "doesn't even rate a five out of ten", I couldn't help but ask what he thought it said about him that he'd previously mentioned paying over one hundred dollars for an "official" Patriots jersey, pointing out that it highlights the exploits of another man. This led to long-winded comments about the sacrifices that Tom Brady has made and so on and so forth, but oddly enough, this ability to recognize and appreciate the commitment of an athlete to HIS sport clearly doesn't translate as well in the mind of the average male sports fan when that athlete is a woman.

Perhaps the lack of male support for women's professional sports overall should come as little surprise seeing as they've historically been ignored, but I can't help but find the fact that where mixed martial arts are concerned, the same male fan who fuels the multi-billion dollar mixed martial arts juggernaut known as the UFC can appreciate Michael Bisping's dedication to the sport, but has no regard for former UFC fighter Leslie Smith, who despite nearly having her ear ripped off in the octagon continues to pursue her passion despite making less money over the course of her career than she would have had she worked at a fast food restaurant instead.

To be fair, some female fighters don't exactly help their cause by appearing in various stages of undress in fitness magazines, but on the other hand, with fighter pay and interest in female fights among the fanbase at large being what it is, how else are these ladies supposed to pay the bills? It's definitely a catch-22 situation, and one that ultimately makes the path to legitimacy for WWMA a longer one than it needs to be. While I understand that a "Cris Cyborg" isn't going to get the movie opportunities a Ronda Rousey will, I have to wonder how many potentially game-changing female fighters will never enter the octagon because they simply can't make a living in the sport. In the meantime, part-time models turned fighters are being hyped as the greatest thing since "the girl who could beat Floyd Mayweather", while fighters like Carla Esparza are selling off whatever they can find laying around the house to pay the bills. It'd be funny if it wasn't so pitifully predictable, even in 2017.