In January of 2011 Dana White made a statement acknowledging his opinion towards girls fighting. A reporter asked, “When are we ganna see women in the UFC?” Dana responded “Never… Ever”. On February 23, 2013 Ronda Rousey won the first ever women’s UFC fight This goes to show, there has
obviously been a great bit of change and advancement in the MMA world for
women. But exactly how much progress have we made? In the gym girls and guys
are often treated different, but how imminent is it? Also, how evenly are the
rules applied to men as apposed to women during competition?
I
have been training MMA coming close to two years. I know that that may not seem
nearly as long as some people but for me it is my life. I spend every second I
can training and trying to get better. I put it all forth when I walk into the
gym and I train my heart out. On a less than rare occasion a guy makes a
comment about my capabilities; “I will try not to hurt you”, “I’m ganna go slow
for you”, “don’t worry I will take it easy” and much more. Sometimes they
immediately pass up working with me with the expression of not wanting to work
with a girl. It is something that happens all too often. I do not need anyone
to slow down or take it easy on me based on the fact I am a girl. If I struggle
with a combination or move it is because I am human and cannot just know
everything without having learned it, not because of my gender. It may be
ineludible to assume a guy can treat a girl the same as a guy in a fight gym.
What I am certain of, is that a guy can respect a girl as an athlete and lose
the mindset that she is beneath himself.
This
past weekend I became more questionable about the fairness of rules being
applied to situations for men and women in MMA, and the UFC in particular.
Rules are meant for our safety, therefor in my mind I do not have any problems
with the rules the UFC has in place for their fighters when safety is on the
line and when the fight should be called. With that being said I am all about
consistency. Set your rules, but apply them consistently. There was a male
fight in UFC 163 where a guy got clipped, kept his arms up (so technically
protecting himself) but then two strikes later he was clearly out, arms down
and 7 strikes were landed to his head before the fight was called. Two fights
later is a girl fight and although in a horrible position, Sheila Gaff was still technically protecting herself and the fight was
called at 2:08 of Round 1. This does not mean I think
that a referee should allow anyone to stay in a situation that he feels is
unsafe. It means simply that there is very large inconsistency. I can
understand how it may be hard to see a girl get hit or to watch her bleed, but
the women in that competition chose to be there. They are not in need of
protection while in competition aside from normal application of referee
action. All the fighters spent there time dedicated to whatever training camp
and put a lot of heart into the preparation whether they were male or female.
This means they should get equal standards in a fight. Whatever way you look at
it if you think fights should be stopped immediately or if the fighters should
be given a chance to recover, it should apply to ALL fighters.
I do
not say any of this to upset anyone, but rather to provoke thought on how tough
women really must be to achieve his or her dreams in this sport. To an extent
girls may need different things than guys in the sport. But the mental aspect
of a girl trying to be a champion in this sport is incredibly tough.
