Sunday, June 1, 2008

Message to Dana White: MMA Women Deserve Some Attention

Last night, CBS featured an MMA fight between Gina Carano and Kaitlin Young brought to us by Elite XC. The two YouTube clips below show the fight.




This was a pretty cracking fight, both fighters with heavy Muay Thai backgrounds. It was very exciting and the crowd got a good show. After watching this fight, it is amazing to me that there are still old dinosaurs in the MMA industry who don't think women ought to be fighting.

Dana White, president of the UFC, remains opposed to allowing women on their organization's fight cards, claiming there aren't enough elite female fighters out there. This is just nuts. Is he telling us that Gina Carano, Satoko Shinashi, and Megumi Fujii (and that's just a few off the top of my head) aren't good enough while Kalib Starnes, recently dubbed "The Running Man," after his cowardly performance at UFC 83, is? It boggles the mind.

Many announcers are saying that the women fights are stealing the show in many cases. White needs to wake up and realize how much women have to offer MMA as a sport.

4 comments:

...S said...

I agree! As a female amateur/recreational boxer and BJJ-er, who can't get enough of MMA, I really don't understand Dana White's view. There are a lot of really talented women competing, and this could be a great opportunity for his organization. All they need is the right exposure to help grow this sport for women. He could do something really innovative...I have ideas, but alas, no million$ to implement them. :-)

Lori O'Connell said...

I was considering creating some sort of rallying point for this cause. Perhaps a Facebook page or something. Maybe if it can be demonstrated that there IS in fact a lot of interest, they might pony up.

...S said...

I'd support something like that! ...and I know lots of women who would likely be interested.

BTW, I read your book "Weapons of Opportunity" a short time ago, and really enjoyed it. You have an excellent writing style, and I really appreciated the way you organized the stories and "weapons". ...and, even though I'm a relative newbie to martial arts (2 years boxing, almost 1 year BJJ), there were many points I could relate to.

Lori O'Connell said...

I'm glad you enjoyed the book! It's great to hear that it is being appreciated. :) I may just go ahead and start that Facebook group. You never know...