One step at a time is the policy for the UFC. Dana White announced the merger of the WEC and UFC yesterday; consequently bringing in both the featherweight and bantamweight divisions into the UFC. Unfortunately, the UFC will not be a home for a Women’s division just yet. Dana stated that he wishes for the talent in the world of Women’s MMA to grow and mature a little before implementing a Women’s division in the UFC. Fortunately, Bellator and Strikeforce have both taken the time to develop such divisions. In the last year we have seen three divisions come to fruition with three very deserving champions. In August of 2009, the biggest fight in Women’s history, Gina Carano vs Crisitiane “Cyborg” Santos took place to determine the Strikeforce Middleweight champion (145lbs). Cyborg completely dominated Carano in spectacular fashion. Since then, Women’s MMA is on a steady rise. This month two other divisions have been graced with a champion. On October 9th Strikeforce held another exciting bout between Sarah Kaufman who received notoriety for her KO SLAM of Roxanne Modafferi in July and Marloes Coenen for the Strikeforce Welterweight Championship (135lbs). Coenen was the first to challenge Cyborg at 145lbs for her title and lost via TKO in the 3rd round. She did not disappoint this time! Coenen submitted Kaufman with an armbar in the depths of the 3rd round to be the first Women’s Welterweight Champion. Bellator completed their inaugural Women’s tournament lastnight for the Women’s 115lb division with a history making fight between Megumi Fujii and Zoila Frausto. Fujjii holds the record for most consecutive wins in MMA at 22 before she lost last night in a close contest against Zoila Frausto. Frausto was not favored to win but pulled off the biggest upset in Women’s MMA history. I’d like to thank Bellator and Strikeforce for putting their faith in Women’s MMA. Both promotions have done a great service to the sport by empowering Women’s MMA. I wait for the day that we can watch Women’s MMA on the biggest stage in the world, the UFC.
P.S. Women like Megumi Fujii are scrutinized in Japan by some crtiiques for fighting. Jessica Aguilar hasn’t even told her mother that she fights MMA and she was one fight away from the Bellator championship bout, but lost to a close decision against Zoila Frausto. These women need some support that goes beyond getting paid a reasonable amount.
Here's the link for the video of Sarah Kaufman's epic slam of Roxanne Modaferri: WATCH IT!
I agree, more people need to support women in MMA. If people watch men in MMA for entertainment and competetiveness then watching women in this sport will give you just that! Cheers to your promotion of women in MMA--a sport that women have definitely been underestimated in!
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