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:
“... contemporary black women felt they were asked to choose between a black movement that primarily served the interests of black male patriarchs and a women’s movement which primarily served the interests of racist white women.”
—bell hooks (b. c. 1955)
“Competition has been shown to be useful up to a certain point and no further, but cooperation, which is the thing we must strive for today, begins where competition leaves off.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)