Women's Competition
While mixed martial arts is primarily a male dominated sport, it does have female athletes. Female competition is more prominent in Japan, with promotions such as the all-female Valkyrie and JEWELS (formerly known as Smackgirl). However historically there has been only a select few major professional mixed martial arts organizations in the United States that invite women to compete. The main organizations to support female competition include, Strikeforce, Bellator Fighting Championships, the all female Invicta Fighting Championships and the now defunct EliteXC.
There has been a growing awareness of women in mixed martial arts due to popular female fighters and personalities such as Megumi Fujii, Miesha Tate, Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos, Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano among others. Carano quickly became known as "the face of women's MMA" after appearing in a number of EliteXC events. This was furthered by her appearances on MGM Television's 2008 revival of their classic game show American Gladiators.
Read more about this topic: Mixed Martial Artists
Famous quotes containing the words women and/or competition:
“Since I am a man, my heart is three or four times less sensitive, because I have three or four times as much power of reason and experience of the world—a thing which you women call hard-heartedness. As a man, I can take refuge in having mistresses. The more of them I have, and the greater the scandal, the more I acquire reputation and brilliance in society.”
—Stendhal [Marie Henri Beyle] (1783–1842)
“Never before has a generation of parents faced such awesome competition with the mass media for their children’s attention. While parents tout the virtues of premarital virginity, drug-free living, nonviolent resolution of social conflict, or character over physical appearance, their values are daily challenged by television soaps, rock music lyrics, tabloid headlines, and movie scenes extolling the importance of physical appearance and conformity.”
—Marianne E. Neifert (20th century)