Written by Grady Roy
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Friday, July 25 2008
Gina Carano has been instrumental in putting women's MMA on the map, but what part will she play in the future of her sport?
It hasn’t taken long for Gina Carano to become a household name to MMA fans. The promising fighter has a record of 6-0 and has captured the eyes and hearts of everyone who watches the sport, even those who aren’t previously familiar with MMA.
Carano is bringing a lot of attention to the EliteXC promotion and women’s’ MMA in general. EliteXC is the only major promotion that currently features a women’s’ division, and its something that can help distinguish themselves from other companies, primarily the UFC. There’s some who are disputing whether that’s a good thing, primarily due to long standing prejudices against women fighting at all.
Attitudes notwithstanding, there is no denying that Gina Carano is bringing legitimacy to women being in the sport. “Its been my feelings all along that women should be treated as equals……If they can go to war, they sure can fight in mixed martial arts. We’re proud to have Gina on our card.” said EliteXC President Gary Shaw.
It hasn’t always been a smooth transaction to sport of MMA. She initially received heavy criticism from the fighting community. People questioned her true commitment to the sport because of her involvement with things such as the American Gladiators TV series and her repeated failure to make weight for her fights. Others suggested that she wasn’t worthy of being the “postergirl” of MMA because she has yet to “pay her dues”. When asked about some of the resistance she had received, Gina commented, “I think there are a lot of other female MMA martial artists out there that have been in it a longer time than I and they have bigger records – and so they’re wondering I’m where I’m at and why they aren’t here. I sympathize with them and I don’t know why either. I think that, you know, EliteXC looked at me and saw something that they could really build and they saw talent. And people sign new talent all the time.”
Carano fought in the first-ever sanctioned women’s match in Nevada, beating Rosy Sexton by TKO. She later fought in EliteXC’s inaugural show, winning by decision over Julie Kedzie. That fight was considered by many to be the best fight of the night. It was apparent then that Gina was on fast track to stardom and that women’s’ MMA wasn’t merely a “sideshow attraction”.
Before entering the sport of MMA Gina was a Muay Thai fighter and held a 12-1-1 record training under Master Toddy in Las Vegas, widely regarded as the top Muay Thai instructor in North America. Today she’s trained by Randy Couture, a MMA legend who is grooming her for greatness. With the addition to the training she’s receiving at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas, Gina has the opportunity to bring a new element to the world of women’s MMA. With her extensive base of Muay Thai training, along with some Olympic-style Taekwondo she’s already a formidable standup fighter. With the implementation of a polished knowledge of Jiu Jitsu she could become the most dangerous female fighter in the sport, in addition to being the most famous. Greater success could attract new fans—both male and female—and continue to grow the popularity of women’s’ MMA.
Gina’s already considerable mainstream notoriety gives her the potential to bring women’s MMA to the mainstream. With male fighters making up the bulk of most promotion’s rosters, now is the time where the females can stake their claim by providing “something different” for MMA audiences. There is no denying that females competing in MMA have a certain inherent element of fascination to it.
Women participating in a male dominated sport raise questions of how they can obtain the best training. Training with men was once thought to be a major taboo, but in today’s sport it is steadily becoming more common due to the success of fighters like Gina and Shayna Baszler (trained by Josh Barnett) looking for top-notch instruction. “Half of the people are fascinated, and then half the people are just kind of judgmental about it, most of those being guys in the sport. At first they look at you kinda crooked, like, “What are you doing here” They almost wanna to be like ‘Do you really wanna do this?” Gina says she doesn’t mind training with men, and she takes it as kind of her chance to prove she belongs there.
With the success of EliteXC and their women’s’ division, its inevitable that fans will soon be able to eventually see more women fighting in more promotions. Dana White has repeatedly stated that UFC has no desire to introduce women onto their roster. Other promotions, however, are seeing this as an opportunity to differentiate their product from that of the Zuffa juggernaut—in addition to EliteXC, the upstart American Fight League (AFL) has recently signed Tara LaRosa to a longterm deal. They’ve publicly committed themselves to making the women’s’ division a centerpiece of their promotion focused around LaRosa, who many consider the best “pound for pound” female fighter in the world. With stars like Gina Carano and Tara LaRosa in the sport it attracts new fans to MMA, and new fans bring greater revenue to the companies that promote fights. A vibrant and competitive women’s’ MMA division could be a win-win situation for fight promotions, fighters and fans alike.
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