Ronda Rousey Body Issue: Publicity is Positive Sign For Future of Women's MMA

“I didn’t know MMA was for women, too.”

It’s a popular sentiment I’ve heard over the years, but it appears as if the landscape is beginning to shift.  

Women’s MMA has been steadily increasing among the general population over the years, and it appears as if it has its first truly marketable star who is committed to the sport.

Ronda Rousey, the current Strikeforce Women’s Bantamweight Champion, has posed nude in ESPN: The Magazine’s Body Issue set to be released on July 13. She is putting herself and her sport on full display for the rest of the world to see.

She has an unblemished Strikeforce record and a bronze medal at the 2008 Olympics as the first American to ever win a medal in women’s judo since it became an Olympic sport in 1992.

Unlike Gina Carano, she seems to only be focused on her MMA career. A future in modeling or acting is not on the front of her mind, which is exactly what the sport needs.

Having Rousey display her toned muscles and incredibly tight physique proves to the American public that these girls are indeed a force to be reckoned with—makeup need not apply.

Other female MMA stars such as Carano and Cristiane Santos have appeared in the issue in the past, but Carano seems to be more concerned with her modeling career than MMA, and “Cyborg” is currently marred in an ugly suspension for steroids.

There needs to be a new face of women’s MMA.

Rousey cares about her sport. I’m not here to tell her she shouldn’t use this publicity to launch another aspect of her career, but there is no question she is representing all female fighters very well.

American culture isn’t used to seeing females fight, but the sentiment is slowly beginning to change. If the only way to draw more attention to the sport is to have one of its stars pose nude…so be it.

Women’s MMA is on the rise, and right now Rousey is the poster girl for the movement. The Body Issue solidifies her status. 

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