Women welcome?

UFC opens the octagon to female fighters

Paige Kreutzwieser
Contributor

I experienced my first entire Ultimate Fighting Championship pay-per-view event not that long ago. It was the highly anticipated (I think) Georges St-Pierre Vs. Carlos Condit event.

Now, it’s not that I don’t know what mixed martial arts is – I don’t live under a rock – but, I’ve never actually had the desire to pay money to watch two people smash each other’s faces in. Because truthfully, that’s what it is.

I understand there is technique, intense training, and a ridiculously extreme level of pain tolerance involved. Yet what they are doing is beating each other up, and getting paid more money than I would know what to do with.

I know a handful of people who did, and are, training for this stuff – it’s intense. But, even when GSP struts into the octagon, he whips out these karate-kid style cartwheels, all I can think is “A cartwheel? Really?”

But, once you watch him fight, you completely forget his pre-fight antics. I’ve gained a lot of respect for St-Pierre because of his skill. I mean, compared to the other fights on the card, and even his component, you can understand why his career record is 23-2.    

And as gruesome as it was, with blood flying everywhere, I was really getting into this athletic guy-on-guy action. 

Then with GSP calling out middleweight champion, Anderson Silva, after he was announced victorious, I started to think: would I want to pay over $50 to see that fight? And truthfully, I might. But would I want to pay over $50 to see some girl-on-girl? Not likely.

And that’s the hot topic now. From my viewpoint, UFC President Dana White is an extremely smart businessman. Even though he previously said women would never fight in the UFC, he’s now calling out women and telling them to bring it to the octagon.

Some peoples’ opinions are that the women should just stay in their bikinis, carry their numbers around the ring, and then sit and wave at the camera. This is an unfortunate stance to take, because they often put on better bouts than the men.

However, if you look up Ronda Rousey or Miesha Tate, two of the top women’s names being thrown around to battle in the octagon, you might be shocked to see they aren’t as hideous as one might think.

The question remains, are people going to fork over money to watch these girls?     Well, if you have four minutes to spare, look online for Rousey Vs. Tate. Like I said, you only need four minutes to see Rousey absolutely dominate and destroy Tate.     And just like after watching GSP, I’ve gained a lot of respect for Rousey. I know I sure wouldn’t want to run into her in a back alley somewhere.

But is watching female fighters worth pay-per-view prices? It will be hard to say, because if you love MMA fighting then I’m sure you’ll pay the money regardless. But, will those people bring in enough revenue that White is looking for?

If it comes down to skill, these women have what it takes. But if it comes down to profit, I don’t know if it’s going to be the greatest outcome. Female athletes certainly have the ability, but I have doubts about the public’s willingness to fork over the cash

So, I think if I ever do watch another pay-per-view UFC, I’m definitely going to stick with men. But, then again, if there was half naked men strutting around carrying the round numbers before a female fight that might sway my decision. Just a little bit.

Photo courtesy cp.org