Less than two years after the first female fight in UFC history, the women have exceeded all expectations and are starting to make a major impact inside the Octagon.
Ronda Rousey is the biggest star in the sport—a dominant force currently operating several levels above her closest competitors while also garnering attention for her burgeoning movie career and all-around marketability. She is a bigger crossover star just 18 months into her UFC career than some of the major names who tried to make the same move in previous years, including her Expendables 3 co-star Randy Couture.
And regardless of how you feel about her potential matchup with fellow fighter-turned-actor Gina Carano, that contest will do serious bank and capture the attention of a wider, more diverse audience than any other fight the UFC could potentially put together.
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While Rousey is leading the way and is definitely the focal point, she’s not the only woman making waves these days.
It has been a long, long time since the MMA community was excited about the debut of a new season of The Ultimate Fighter, but Season 20, which wraps up filming in the next week or so, has people buzzing about the long-running reality TV franchise again and it’s not simply because there will be 16 women inhabiting the TUF house this time around.
The upcoming season—which debuts in September—features competitors in the 115-pound strawweight division, regarded by most as the more competitive weight class on the women’s side of the sport.
The first two fights in the weight class made a strong case for the division’s depth. Claudia Gadelha and Tina Lahdemaki turned in 15-minutes of excitement and excellent technique in the division’s debut, while Joanna Jedrzejczyk showcased her striking and serious upside when she picked apart Juliana Lima last month in San Jose. As discussed earlier this summer, the TUF 20 cast is loaded with talent and if the early returns are any indication of what to expect (and they should be), the competition to crown the inaugural UFC women’s strawweight champion is going to be fierce and fun to watch.
And here’s the really cool part: there is so much more to all this than just Rousey and TUF 20.
Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino isn’t even in the UFC, but she is someone fight fans are constantly buzzing about as the never-ending search for potential challengers to the current women’s bantamweight champion rolls on. While a bout between Rousey and Carano seems inevitable, a potential matchup between the Olympic bronze medallist and the Brazilian standout is one fans have been clamouring for and it will continue to do so until it happens.
Holly Holm hasn’t set foot in the Octagon yet and people are rightfully excited about her addition to the roster. The 32-year-old multiple-time world champion boxer is unbeaten since transitioning to MMA and has been training with Team Jackson-Winkeljohn for quite some time. “The Preacher’s Daughter” has the potential to be an immediate threat in the 135-pound ranks because her boxing and overall striking are so polished and her movement in the standup game is superior to anyone else in the division.
After missing out on a chance to coach on TUF 18 and face the Rousey, Cat Zingano is scheduled to make her return to the Octagon at UFC 178 and remains one of the more intriguing fighters in the division. Miesha Tate, whom Zingano beat in her lone UFC appearance to date, continues to be a strong secondary draw for the company and is a part of one of the most anticipated fights of September when she takes on unbeaten newcomer Rin Nakai in the co-main event of next month’s Fight Night event in Japan.
While Rousey has distanced herself from her potential challengers, the rest of the bantamweight division is ultra-competitive, with very little separating the Top 10 which often results in close, entertaining scraps.
All three of the women’s bouts on the schedule for this month—Sara McMann vs. Lauren Murphy, Elizabeth Phillips vs. Milana Dudieva and Bethe Correia vs. Shayna Baszler—are interesting. The first and last pairing having legitimate divisional implications, while the middle bout will serve as a litmus test for newcomer Dudieva after Phillips dropped a gutsy split decision to Canadian Valerie Letourneau in her debut back in June.
While the skill level and technical acumen are not yet on par with their male counterparts in most cases, the women seem to fight with more of a chip on their shoulders than the men, continuously battling to prove they belong on this level. They are far more than just a novelty act.
Every division has the odd clunker, but those dull contests are fewer and farther between in the women’s ranks right now. Given the relative newness of the division, the next few years will likely showcase the same kind of sudden and impressive evolutions of talent and technique that produced so much excitement on the male side of the sport over the past 10-15 years.
Just like Conor McGregor says of he and his Irish cohorts, the women aren’t here just to take part, they’re here to take over.