Gina Carano, Miesha Tate & the DOOMED Future of Female MMA

By Siri Karri

In a recent interview with RSR, Miesha Tate was quoted as saying that she believed her co-main event status at Strikeforce’s Fedor vs. Henderson card will be a milestone in women’s MMA and that they would be “getting a lot more eyes watching [them]”. This is all well and good, but there’s something else that her statement belies.

Anyone who is worth their salt in MMA knowledge knows that Strikeforce, while a loveable alternative to the UFC with a stable of talented fighters, has always attracted less fans while dealing with numerous contract issues with its well-known fighters. I mean, I genuinely like watching Strikeforce but there are simply better fights and better fighters under contract at the UFC. Fedor Emelianenko and Dan Henderson are absolute LEGENDS in mixed martial arts, but the general consensus is that the fight was made to milk money and a decisive loss for either fighter would bring a long overdue end to their storied careers.

So why does Miesha Tate, one of the best female fighters in the world at only 24 years of age, believe that riding on the coattails of geriatric legends is a landmark in women’s MMA? Simply put, Miesha Tate is a realist; she understands that the fate of women’s MMA is unstable at best.

I’m in no, way, shape or form a sexist person. I assure you, I wouldn’t care if we had a female president and I think it’s an absolute injustice that women make around 80 cents per every dollar a man makes. I’m saying this because I am an offensive and brutally honest person who will try to back up everything I say in fact. Just understand that what I’m about to say may be inflammatory, but it isn’t spurred by hate.

*Ahem*

While I am hardcore in favor of equality for women in the workplace, I definitely take the unpopular view when it comes to the pay disparity in sports. My view is that it happens for a reason.

The penultimate reason people watch sports is to be wowed, to watch the most insane athletes wow us as they defy gravity and physics. The harder the dunk, the harder the hit, the faster the run . . . the higher we rise out of our seats and the more time we are willing to devote to watching people who will never actually help us in any direct way. Simply put, athletics isn’t a concept of getting paid for your work; it’s how many people want to WATCH you work.

Here’s where the fun starts, so please don’t crucify me.

The average height for a male in any part of the world is anywhere from 3 – 6 inches taller than a female. According to the American Dietetic Association, the average male athlete has a body fat percentage of 5-12% while a female athlete rests at around 10 – 20%. This isn’t because they are “fat”, but because of their breasts and reproductive hormones. But If you were a businessman, and were told that you had to raise a multi-million dollar sporting organization and pick your athletes out of the two pools listed above . . . who would you choose? I know it sounds REALLY scummy, but remember that you have to choose what has the greatest chance of entertaining your fans.

Here’s an example, don’t hate me.

6′ 4″ Candice Parker was considered a “rookie sensation” going into the WNBA. She is a great athlete, gets millions of dollars a year through endorsements, and is an inspiration to female athletes everywhere. Do you know what Candice Parker’s landmark achievement was that put her on the map? What she did that hyped her to the WNBA?

She was the first woman to dunk in an NCAA tournament. I’m not trying to mitigate the magnitude of her achievement, but I had a dude in my high school gym class who was 5′ 10″ and could dunk over our 6′ 3″ forward. I’m a busy college student with mass homework, writes for this website, AND is trying to lose 20 lbs. If I have 2 hours in my schedule to spare watching a basketball game, I’d much rather be watching a game in which thundering dunks and outmuscling the opponent happens often enough to where it isn’t considered a landmark event for the sport.

I’m not sexist, but give me a good reason I shouldn’t prefer the NBA. Give the millions of people every year that watch NBA games a reason that they should spend time watching the WNBA instead. Mixed martial arts is not free from these same biases either.

The overwhelming majority of female fighters represented by Strikeforce are measured under 5′ 8″, fighting at or under 145 lbs. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with being small, but these women are competing for attention in a division that boasts the likes of Jose Aldo, Marc Hominick, Leonard Garcia, Uriah Faber, Kenny Florian and Nam Phan. That’s not really a fight they can win.

I’m sure there are people getting absolutely incensed that this point, but I really do want to make a point. Imagine compiling a highlight reel of Jose Aldo’s career. Now, on the other side, combine fight highlights from Gina Carano, Cristiane Santos, Michelle Watterson, and Miesha Tate. If you present these to a random group of strangers who only have the vaguest idea of MMA and wanted to make an objective opinion, whose fight do you think they’d watch?

Alright, moving onto the 2nd reason women’s MMA will fail: Sex appeal. Yup, I’m going there.

Men AND women (that’s right ladies, I’m calling you out), have a second brain in between their legs. There’s a reason that even though Channing Tatum and Megan Fox can’t act, men and women flock to see their movies. Do you think it’s because they have a sparkly personality? Because they are genuinely the greatest human beings on the face of the earth that you’ll pay $10 to see them act poorly on a large screen, and $20 to play their disc at home? No, it’s because we all fantasize that we’re somehow attractive enough to make out with them in the movie.

Top 10 highest paid tennis players in the world, from most to least as of March 14, 2011. Go ahead, just get a vague idea if you can.

Chances are, most of you correctly guessed that Roger Federer (holder of a record 16 grand slams) is #1. Out of curiosity, who’d you put at number #2? Rafael Nadal, the man who wrestled the no. 1 ranking away from Federer and who gave birth to 3 of the greatest matches in tennis history against him? Serena Williams, the fiery American who is a figurehead for female African American athletes? Novak Djokovic, the most recent Wimbledon winner who has only lost ONCE this year? Wrong.

Maria Sharapova, who hasn’t won a grand slam since 2008 and shows no signs of doing so this year. Now I’m not saying Maria Sharapova is a bad player, because she’s not. I’m just saying there are hoards of more deserving players to be the 2nd highest paid tennis player in the world. So why is she paid so much more in sponsorships than the aforementioned players? Well, I want you to Google Image these EXACT words.

“Sharapova SI”.

Go ahead men, drool. By the way, the picture of her posing perfectly sideways in that white bikini was my wallpaper all through my junior year of high school. Oh and women, go ahead and look too because this is the picture your boyfriend is going to be looking at when you’re not in the room.

Cristiane Santos is, without question, the best female fighter in the world. She takes her fitness very, very seriously and has abs that would make 90% of male athletes of any sport jealous. When she fought Gina Carano, the so called “face of women’s MMA”, she pushed the pace and tired the hyped Carano until she pummeled her for a TKO at the end of round 1. She is a beast, and a testament to women’s MMA.

Now, if you haven’t actually watched women’s MMA (it’s not really televised often), the casual MMA fan probably doesn’t know who Cristiane Santos is . . . but even people who haven’t seen a single MMA fight in their life knows who Gina Carano is. Why do you think that is people? Why do you think that a woman that could probably beat up and take the lunch money of over half the lightweights in men’s MMA gets less exposure than a woman who was more hype than actual skill?

I hope you haven’t closed your Google search tab! Go ahead and open a 2nd one right next to it, and on one put Cristiane Santos, and the other one type in Gina Carano. Seeing a pattern here?

I remember a gorgeous friend of mine in college who had been rail thin and muscular during her high school career on account of her being a state caliber gymnast. However she looked NOTHING like this when I met her; she was curvaceous and her six pack was replaced by a smooth albeit still flat stomach. When we were in a group, someone asked why she quit gymnastics (a thinly veiled question of how her figure changed). She simply laughed and said, “What can I say, I wanted boobs before I went to college”. And I’ll be damned if she didn’t look 10 times better than she did in her high school year book.

When men carve their body down to their athletic peak, they are considered peak of “male beauty”; shredded abs, sharply defined pectorals, every individual muscle in the arm outlined etc. I mean, why do you think David Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Tom Brady sell so many posters with the female demographic? Conversely, when women approach this athletic peak, they’re considered “freaks”. Cristiane Santos is one hell of an athlete and I respect the HELL out of her, but how marketable do you think she actually is? Do you think it’s any coincidence that when the U.S. soccer team made it to the world cup finals, a good 75% of Facebook statuses were about how hot Hope Solo and Alex Morgan were? I believe my Gina Carano poster speaks for itself.

As I write this sentence, an exhausted Miesha Tate has dug deep and sunk in an arm triangle to win the 135 lb title . . . and I’m genuinely happy for her. In a male dominated sport, she has probably put on the most exciting fight of the night and earned her co-main event status. I want women’s MMA to succeed . . . I just don’t know if it can.

There’s so much bias in the sports community, whether it be rooted in logic or prejudice, against women. Unfortunately, it’s exponentially worse in a sport like MMA where there’s already hatred against people who called it “human cock-fighting” regardless of the gender of the participants. Even I’m not free of these prejudices. I think of the iconic image of Forrest Griffin with blood streaming out of every orifice in his face in his titanic battle with Stephan Bonnar . . . and thinking about that face being replaced with a woman’s honestly just sickens me.

I have nothing to gain by women’s MMA failing, and I always want to see someone be successful for what they love. There is simply no way, however, women’s MMA to take off if the events only come as dubious “bonuses” tacked onto much more established male MMA cards. At the same time, women’s MMA will simply fizzle out if it’s forced to stand on its own because people, myself included, would prefer to watch a guy’s fight over girls.

Miesha put on a damn good show in her last fight, and she is one of the few female fights that I can remember outshining its male counterpart. I sincerely hope the best for her, and that women’s MMA takes off as it deserves to.

As of now however, she is a great champion in what may be a doomed sport.