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Women's mixed martial arts

Women's mixed martial arts
FocusVarious
HardnessFull contact
Olympic sportNo - not recognized by the IOC

While mixed martial arts is primarily a male dominated sport, it does have female athletes.[1][2][3] For instance, Female competition in Japan includes promotions such as DEEP Jewels. Now defunct promotions that featured female fighters were Valkyrie, and Smackgirl.[4] Professional mixed martial arts organizations in the United States that invite women to compete are industry leader Ultimate Fighting Championship, the all female Invicta Fighting Championships, Resurrection Fighting Alliance, Bellator Fighting Championships, and Legacy Fighting Championship. Now defunct promotions that featured female fighters were Strikeforce and EliteXC.[5] There has been a growing awareness of women in mixed martial arts due to popular female fighters and personalities such as Amanda Nunes, Megumi Fujii, Gina Carano, Ronda Rousey, Miesha Tate, Holly Holm, Alexa Grasso, and Joanna Jędrzejczyk and among others.[6] Carano became known as "the face of women's MMA" after appearing in a number of EliteXC events.[7][8][9] This was furthered by her appearances on MGM Television's 2008 revival of their game show American Gladiators.[10][11][12][13]

The UFC's decision to allow female fighters in the organization, to promote the dominant fighter Ronda Rousey, is often cited as the reason women's mixed martial arts became known to the general public.[14] Rousey won the Best Fighter ESPY Award at the 2015 ESPN ESPY awards, beating out noted fighters such as Floyd Mayweather Jr., and becoming the first UFC and MMA fighter to win the award.[15]

  1. ^ Smith, Malissa (2014). A History of Women's Boxing. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 263. ISBN 9781442229952. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
  2. ^ "Fighting for the Right to fight". Cauldron. Retrieved 2015-05-17.
  3. ^ "Examining the Growth and Popularity of Women's Mixed Martial Arts". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 2014-12-30.
  4. ^ Sherdog.com (2008-10-08). "Valkyrie Takes Flight Nov. 8". Sherdog.com. Retrieved 2014-01-12.
  5. ^ "MMAWeekly.com: EliteXC to create women's title during '09 season - MMA - SI.com". si.com. 14 May 2008. Retrieved 2014-08-25.
  6. ^ "EliteXC's Shayna Baszler fighting for what's hers". mmajunkie.com. 2008-07-23. Retrieved 2014-08-25.
  7. ^ "Gina Carano refutes position as 'face of women's MMA'". mmajunkie.com. 2008-09-21. Retrieved 2015-02-04.
  8. ^ "Carano-'Cyborg' set to make history - Las Vegas Sun News". lasvegassun.com. 2009-08-14. Retrieved 2014-08-25.
  9. ^ "Who is Haywire's Gina Carano?". Time. 2012-01-19. Retrieved 2014-08-25.
  10. ^ "American Gladiator Gina Carano a mixed martial arts pioneer - Sports Update". blog.chron.com. 2008-05-14. Retrieved 2014-08-25.
  11. ^ "Haywire Star Gina Carano GQ January 2012 Interview". gq.com. 2012-01-05. Retrieved 2014-08-25.
  12. ^ Rondina, Steven. "Gina Carano: How Would Women's MMA Pioneer Do in the Sport Today?". bleacherreport.com. Retrieved 2014-08-25.
  13. ^ "Eight-Sided Vindication". Retrieved 2014-10-15.
  14. ^ "How Ronda Rousey Became MMA's Biggest Star". The New Yorker. 2014-07-28. Retrieved 2015-07-21.
  15. ^ "Espn Celebrates 23rd Annual Espy Awards". ESPN. 2015-07-15. Retrieved 2015-07-21.
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