While mixed martial arts are predominantly male-dominated sports, it does have female athletes. The women's competition in Japan includes promotions like DEEP Jewels. Now the dead promotions featuring female fighters are Valkyrie, and Smackgirl. A professional mixed martial arts organization in the United States that invites women to compete is the industry leader Ultimate Fighting Championship, all Invicta Fighting Championships, Alliance of Resurrection Battles, Bellator Battle Championships, and Legacy Fighting Championship. Now the dead promotions featuring female fighters are Strikeforce and EliteXC.
There is a growing awareness of women in mixed martial arts because of popular fighters and female characters such as Megumi Fujii, Gina Carano, Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos, Ronda Rousey, Miesha Tate, Holly Holm, Amanda Nunes and Joanna Jedrzejczyk and among others. Carano is known as the "MMA female face" after appearing on a number of EliteXC events. This was reinforced by her performance at MGM Television in 2008 to revive their game show American Gladiators.
The UFC's decision to allow female fighters in the organization, to promote the dominant fighter Ronda Rousey, is often cited as the reason the mixed martial art of women is known to the general public. Rousey won the ESPY Best Fighters Award in ESPN ESPY 2015, defeated leading fighters like Floyd Mayweather Jr., and became the first award-winning UFC and MMA fighters.
Video Women's mixed martial arts
History
In Japan, women's competition has been documented since the mid-1990s. Influenced by professional wrestling and female kickboxing, the Smackgirl competition was formed in 2001 and became the sole major promotion of women in mixed martial arts. Other previously successful Japanese women's organizations include Ladies Legend Pro-Wrestling, ReMix (predecessor for Smackgirl), U-Top Tournament, K-Grace, and AX.
In the United States, before the successful performance of The Ultimate Fighter reality that launched mixed martial arts into mainstream media, there was little main coverage of women's competition. Some of the earliest organizations that invited women to compete include the International Battle Championships, SuperBrawl, King of Cages, Anger at the Cage, Combat Ring, Rutten Invitational Base, and HOOKnSHOOT. The first recorded female women's competition was at IFC 4 on March 28, 1997. This was immediately followed by IFC four women's tournaments approved by the Louisiana Boxing and Wrestling Commission on 5 September 1997 in Baton Rouge. From the mid-2000s, more coverage emerged when organizations like Strikeforce, EliteXC, Bellator Fighting Championships, and Shark Fights invited women to compete.
Outside Japan and the United States, female competition is almost exclusively found in small local promotions. However, in Europe several large organizations have organized certain women's competitions, including It's Showtime, Shooto Europe, Cage Warriors, and M-1 Global.
After the acquisition of Zuffa against Strikeforce in March 2011, there is much speculation about the future of women's competition, both in terms of relevance and popularity.
The next step is UFC to take MMA women, but UFC President, Dana White, refused. He said, "There is not enough depth to create a women's division."
However, Dana White warms up the idea of ​​putting women in the UFC and merely praising Ronda Rousey as a woman warring reason in the UFC.
Maps Women's mixed martial arts
Rule divider
Traditional MMA rules are often adjusted for women's competition due to security concerns. In Japan, ReMix is ​​banned from ground-and-pound and displays a 20-second deadline for ground combat. This rule still follows ReMix 2001 re-branding as Smackgirl, although the deadline is extended to 30 seconds. The rule was abolished in 2008.
In the United States, the women's bout held by EliteXC saw a three minute round while the Strikeforce strike initially lasted two minutes. This length is compared to the usual five minutes for men. Strikeforce then changed this rule to allow a five minute round.
Another form of rule differentiation is the change in both weight and weight classification. It has been seen in a number of organizations including, Strikeforce, Smackgirl, and Valkyrie.
While men are required to wear a protective groin, women are forbidden to do so. Women should wear protective upper and chest, while men are also not allowed.
Milestones
The first female MMA fight in the United States was held on 28 March 1997 by the International Battle Championships between Becki Levi and Betty Fagan.
Strikeforce became the first major promotion in the United States to hold women's bout as the main event on August 15, 2009. The fight between Carano and Cristiane Santos attracted 856,000 viewers. Santos made history with his victory over Carano when he became the first champion of Strikeforce Women's 145 pounds.
Invicta Fighting Championships in early 2012 became one of the first women's pro women's organizations.
Ronda Rousey became the first female fighter to be signed to UFC in November 2012, and was promoted to the division bantamweight class. He successfully defended his title in the first UFC women's battle against Liz Carmouche at UFC 157.
Miesha Tate and Cat Zingano fight at Ultimate Fighter 17 Finale on April 13th.
On December 11, 2013, UFC took a contract of 11 female fighters to fill their 115-pound division. The Strawweights take part in the 20th season of The Ultimate Fighter, the winner of the season will be the women's first UFC straw champion. Some of the fighters include Felice Herrig, Claudia Gadelha, Tecia Torres, Bec Hyatt, Joanne Calderwood, and even the Heavyweight Champion Invicta FC Carla Esparza and many more.
Carla Esparza became the first champion UFC straw after defeating Rose Namajunas at The Ultimate Fighter: A Champion Will Be Crowned finale.
Esparza lost his title for Joanna J? Drzejczyk at UFC 185.
Disagreement
From the very beginning the role of women in mixed martial arts has been the subject of debate. Some observers treat women's competition as a spectacle and taboo topic.
References
Bibliography
- The Global Perspective on Women in Combat Sports: Women Soldiers Worldwide , Alex Channon, Palgrave Macmillan, August 2015, ISBN 9781137439352
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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