If Promoted Correctly, Women's MMA Is More Exciting Than Men's

If there’s one thing that can be learned in the aftermath of Strikeforce Challengers 10 it’s that Women’s MMA is on the rise.

The event which took place at the Dodge Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona, highlighted a unique single night tournament in the women’s welterweight (135-lbs.) division featuring four talented female fighters—six if you include the tournament reserve bout between Liz Carmouche and Colleen Schneider.

The tournament was won by Miesha “Takedown” Tate as she defeated both Maiju Kujala and Hitomi Akano to earn a guaranteed shot at the women’s welterweight championship.

Every female fight on the card clearly outshined the male bouts in terms of skill, pure excitement and crowd reaction. This is nothing new as anytime a women’s fight is displayed on an MMA card it usually produces a great reaction from the crowd.

Yet somehow female fighters still aren’t being placed on the same pedestal as men. The UFC won’t even promote a women’s division in their organization claiming that there simply isn’t enough talent to create a legitimate female division for their brand.

The truth is, there are plenty of high caliber female fighters all over the globe so to suggest that there isn’t enough to form a division is not entirely true.

 Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos and Gina Carano might be the most popular women’s fighters in the world but they are not the only girls who can perform at a high level in MMA.

Tara LaRosa and Erin Toughill have been fighting long before the aforementioned Carano and Santos, and they are still ranked highly in their respective weight division.

Other top ranked females include Megumi Fujii, Marloes Coenen, Lisa Ward, Jessica Pene, Carina Damm, Zoila Frausto, Elena Reid, Cindy Dandois, and Shayna Baszler. Now that’s just naming a few, there’s an abundance of established fighters and undiscovered female talent out there.

It boils down to a lack of promotion and not a lack of talent when it comes to Women’s MMA. The fact is, if promoted correctly female fighters would far exceed their male counterparts in terms of anticipation and excitement.

The current reigning Strikeforce women’s welterweight champion Sarah Kaufman is a technical masterpiece boasting an undefeated record with notable victories over the tournament winner Tate and Roxanne Modafferi.

Both of those fights were just as exciting, if not more so, than an average “Fight of the Night” on a UFC pay-per-view. The Modafferi fight in particular ended in highlight reel fashion with Kaufman slamming the English teacher into unconsciousness. Yet both fights took place on the Challengers series rather than a major Strikeforce event, much like the single night female tournament in Arizona.

Kaufman’s next title defense against Marloes Coenen should headline, or at least serve as a co-main event, for a significant Strikeforce event on Showtime. When it comes time for Tate to fight the winner, that bout should absolutely take place on a CBS card.

Strikeforce has done a pretty good job at promoting women’s MMA thus far, much better than most promotions, but there is still so much more that they could be doing to truly legitimize their female talent.

They also cannot rely solely on “Cyborg”, Kaufman and Tate to carry the flag either. They have to start building up other female talent as well, not just from a fighting perspective but allow these ladies to tell their story both in and out of the cage.

Not to criticize Strikeforce though, they along with the Bellator Fighting Championships have invested a lot of effort in promoting female MMA. Bellator is also in the process of a women's tournament in the 115-lbs division featuring the likes of Megumi Fujii, Lisa Ward, Aisling Daly, Jessica Pene and Zoila Frausto.

The amateur fight promotion Tuff N’ Uff is also well known for their ability to promote up and coming female fighters, even featuring an “All Women’s” event back in 2009. UFC color commentator Joe Rogan attended that event in Las Vegas and was highly impressed with the talent that some of the ladies possessed.

Can you imagine how successful a woman’s division would be if promoted under the Zuffa banner? There isn’t a promoter alive that listens to their fans more than UFC President Dana White. If enough fans asked for females in the UFC or the WEC, White would set it up in a heartbeat.

Do you want to see females fighting in the Octagon? Let White know, he’s easy to reach just send him a tweet. If you aren’t 100% sold on women’s MMA yet, your opinion will change because the ladies are set to have their biggest year yet in 2011.

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Mitch Ciccarelli is the sexiest MMA columnist on the face of the earth. His articles drive women crazy and make men extremely jealous. Follow Mitch on twitter if you'd like to read some fun tweets about MMA, oompa loompas, pancakes, and flying elephants. @mitchciccarelli