Nature vs Nurture

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.