This past weekend, I was really pumped to see the first event for the Invicta Fighting Championships, the brand new all women MMA promotion. So as I browsed through one of my favourite MMA communities, /r/MMA on Reddit.com, which I frequently do just to see what fellow keyboard warriors are saying, I came across a post that listed all of the fighters in their respective fights. As I scrolled down to read the comments, one of them jumped out at me. It read,
"You forgot to tell us which ones are hot"
I never wanted to jump into my computer and cyber punch someone more than I did after reading that comment.
MMA fans who only take an interest into Women's MMA when there are two ladies who can also double as two Cover Girl models just makes me sick. I can appreciate the beauty of women as thoroughly as the next guy, but can't we all just judge our female mma fighters on what really matters? Talent, technique, and heart? The action in Women's MMA is fast and furious, there's much less stalling, more scrambling, they engage much quicker, and the women fight with everything they have all the time. And I love them for it. I can honestly say that women have more exciting fights on a consistent basis than men do.
Invicta didn't disappoint at all. For free on their website, they gave us a full night of great fights with some talented women fighting with all they had. One of those fights, Kaitlin Young vs. Leslie Smith, was an instant classic that could hopefully do for Invicta what Bonnar vs. Griffin did for the UFC.
Although there were a few technical difficulties at the beginning of the night, the event was overall fantastic and I will definitely want to reserve a Saturday for the next event when it is officially announced.
Having said all of that, there are a couple things I noticed that make me wonder if they will be a common aspect of Invicta FC and women's MMA in general...
1. Four Fighters not making Weight
Yikes. That's a high number of fighters not to make weight. Fighting not on weight is such a huge advantage that it totally taints a victory. Who knows what the outcome would be if the fighter was forced to lose those extra pounds. Four fights going through this scenario should make making weight priority number one for President Shannon Knapp. I know that weight loss is more difficult for women than it is for men in general. I just wish that all fighters, regardless of gender, would fight at the weight they are most comfortable in and not have to go to extreme measures just for that advantage. I don't have an answer for it other than personal responsibility, but I do hope it doesn't become something that's common for Invicta which could tarnish the results.
2. No Knockouts
Some great finishes were sprinkled throughout the night with a couple of slick submissions and a couple of vicious ground and pound drubbings, one of them courtesy Randi Miller who had a hard fought debut victory. But there were no clear one punch knock outs. As a matter of fact, I don't recall anybody getting rocked either. This is not necessarily a bad thing but just something that I wonder how common it will be to have knockout-less fight nights in Invicta. Especially since Invicta will be attracting the best female talent, it will be even harder to knock out more skilled opponents.
One thing that I do believe will happen in Women's MMA much faster than Men's is that we will see elite female boxers make the transition over to MMA quicker. This may help any potential knock out droughts in the future. I think the paydays will reach on par with female boxing, if they haven't all ready, much quicker. This will convince those elite boxers to make the plunge. As a striking enthusiasts, I would love that. Seeing a few knockouts like this in an Invicta Octagon would make me jump out of my seat like a mad man.
3. Ring Girls?... Really?
Invicta NEVER marketed itself as some ultra feminist, fight the power type alternative to the male dominated MMA industry. But I was still surprised to see ring girls for an all female card ran by a female President. I guess it was silly of me, but I was half expecting to see a ring boy for the first time. All this indicates to me in hindsight is President Shannon Knapp is aware of her target market or she just likes to stick to tradition. Nothing wrong with that.
I definitely enjoyed the first parts (your outrage and response over "which ones are hot" is shared by me, and I liked that you QUESTIONED Ring Girls), though I don't think that your inner feminist lasted the whole post. This was the line it disappeared in my opinion: "All this indicates to me in hindsight is President Shannon Knapp is aware of her target market or she just likes to stick to tradition. Nothing wrong with that." When sticking to tradition is sexist and displays women as sexual objects for the pleasure of the target market (aka men, some of whom will be of the "Which ones are hot?" category), I think there IS something wrong with that. Thoughts?
ReplyDeleteHi Natasha
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. I think the whole event showcased women in a very positive light. You had women of all different types of fighting styles engaging in a fighting event that rivalled the entertainment and production quality of any major MMA promotion not named the UFC.
Also you have a strong female president who put the whole thing together and at least from my point of view the event ran very smoothly.
And yes you also had beautiful women showing which round was up next in skimpy bikinis. I think the physical beauty of women is just one of the many attributes of women that were showcased on that night along with the other attributes in my previous examples.
So I think there was a balanced depiction of women all through out the event, so again, in my opinion, there was absolutely nothing wrong with them showcasing the Ring Girls.