G/f and I are both big fans of MMA events (UFC, Pride and so on) and we went to the Strikeforce event at HP Pavilion in San Jose last night. Great show.
All of the fighters were male.
-Do you think that women should be allowed to compete in MMA events (assuming same rules as for the men)?
-Would you be interested in watching MMA events between women?
-Do you think that the general MMA audience would want to watch women fighters?
Personally I don’t have any problem with women competing - women box, play hockey, wrestle, do judo, jiujitsu, full-contact sparring (my sister has gotten into TKD and loves sparring, even with great big guys), etc. As long as the rules are the same I think that women should be able to compete the same as the guys.
I would like to watch such an event, and I’d do it out of an interest in the sport, not “Ooh, two hot chicks rolling around on the ground!” I don’t think that I’d have any more problem if blood was spilled as often happens with the men. If a woman doesn’t mind getting a black eye or bloody nose why should I mind?
I think that the thing to avoid is the “WWE” effect where it’s basically soft-core catfights. As long as the women are serious athletes who want to compete in the same setting as the men, what’s the problem?
However I know that there are people who find the idea totally distasteful. What’s the difference between men and women in this regard as long as they are willing participants in a sporting event?
1 : Women just aren’t built like men, so it’s questionable if any fight between them can be a fair contest. Thinner bones, smaller size, shorter reach and so on. And no, I’m not saying women are inferior; put them both on an ice floe and he’ll freeze first; it’s just that men are better built for taking a beating.
2 : A general cultural dislike of men hitting women ( normally a good thing, of course ), for any reason.
3 : The sympathy factor. I think most people will feel more sympathy for the damage a woman takes than a man; the “wince factor”. Whether it’s a man or a woman doing the damage.
I was just at some kind of arrangement with Thai boxing and Ultimate Fighting. One of the matches featured two women having a go at each other. One was called Fatima the other was some German chick. I got the tickets for free and found none of it very interesting. The women fight was even less interesting. The only thing making it marginal interesting was the novelty of them being women. Beyond that they were several steps below what the least talented men could do. But sure, it’s still a free country. They can do whatever they want.
Sorry, I wasn’t clear - I’m not talking about men fighting women, I am talking about women fighting women. The women would have the same rules as the men. Female boxing has really begun to come into its own over the last several years, there are certainly plenty of women who are good fighters and don’t mind hitting and getting hit. I read an article about women’s Olympic hockey and the women were complaining that they are forced to play by different rules when it comes to the hard physical contact inherent to ice hockey.
Rune, I agree that initial fights may not be very interesting, in the same way that some of the early female boxing matches weren’t, since the interest and participation of skilled fighters just wasn’t there. However I think that you can say that about any sport - when women started participating they were held to different (and frankly lower) standards than the men. Once enough women began competing the skill level and the level of play went up.
So far as I understand it women are already allowed to compete in these kinds of tournaments. At least in the United States I don’t think you could legislate against it because women are entitled to full and equal protection under the law. Yes, it should certainly be legal for women to engage in fisticuffs or gladitorial style brawls. I’ll watch a boxing or a wrestling (real wrestling) match but I don’t really care to see two women going at it. Personal preference on my part and nothing to base a set of rules on.
I’d have no objections to watching women on an UFC show assuming the level of fight would be on par with the men’s matches. Having said that, I don’t think women MMA fighters are even close to that level yet. Maybe in 5 years…I’m sure there’s a female Gracie kicking ass in Brazil.
I am a big fan of MMA and train in BJJ and Vale Tudo. Last year, I attended the Abu Dhabi tournament in Long Beach, CA. (where Dean Lister defeated Jean Jacque Machado) I watched several women’s matches, and they were outstanding. These were very tough and talented women. I learned a lot by watching them.
I could easily them throwing punches, going in for the clench, doing a take down, and submitting.
In other words, I would watch women’s MMA for the same reason I watch mens – to see talented practitioners of a great sport. I think some of these BJJ stars could transition over easily. They need to start with no-gi, work on the clench, and appling kick boxing skills, and some would be great.
Quite on-topic, I’d say. I’m just wondering how long it will be until a fight promoter presents women on the card in the US - there will undoubtedly be a couple of hills to get over including the T&A aspect and the initial novelty which attracts sub-par competitors but look back on the early UFCs - some of those “fighters” were just barroom brawlers with no real skills, they could hold their own in a “Tough Guy” contest but in the cage they got finished off very quickly. It didn’t take long for people to realize that you have to be a well-rounded fighter in excellent condition to compete. I think that women’s MMA will go the same route.
I’m a fan of MMA too, although I’m usually too cheap to shell out the money for Pay Per View. I don’t see any reason why women shouldn’t be able to compete against each other – assuming they could find talented women fighters who were interested. I’d be at least as interested in watching that as watching the male fighters.
No objections from me, though I’d likely not watch.
Part of the fun of MMA is watching some poor slob’s face being turned into ground hamburger. Not a bloody/broken nose or black eye; as in a completely ruined face. I don’t have that bloodthirst when it comes to women.
Funny; based on american action cinema, I would have thought that woman kicking ass would be popular. I guess maybe that only applies if they’re guaranteed to win.
I’m curious, what exactly is the appeal of watching MMA?
For men watching other men in MMA is it like watching a baseball game or other sporting event or is there some primal buzz, or even perhaps a sexual element to it? Also, when men watch women’s MMA how much of it is a sexual turn-on and how much of it is a genuine interest in the technique?
The lingerie wouldn’t stay on, for starters. Heck, they might not even wear lingerie.
Lingerie jokes aside, there’s not too much that’s sexy about watching one person trying to dislocate another person’s shoulder, male or female. The thrill is in the strategy, the talent, and the execution of technique.