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Thread: Women in MMA

  1. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by AmanuJRY View Post
    Effective...yes.

    Not as effective as Jessica Alba winning guys choice on Spike last night.
    BooYah !!!

  2. #17
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    Lisa Ward & Lisa King on the Today Show

    Just got this press release from mmawoman.com.

    FATAL FEMMES FIGHTING , THE SHOW OF ‘TODAY’
    FFF Commentator Lisa King, and FFF Flyweight Champion Lisa Ward to appear Sunday on NBC’s Today Show

    (Los Angeles, CA, November 9, 2007) --- Fresh off an extraordinary November 3rd show, Fatal Femmes Fighting Championship will make an appearance on NBC’s The Today Show, Sunday November 11. The vivacious Lisa King, and the highly regarded FFF Flyweight Champion of the world, Lisa Ward, will represent Fatal Femmes Fighting as they perform several moves for the audience, and discuss women in MMA. Check your local listings for The Today Show times.
    Gene Ching
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  3. #18
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  4. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by MasterKiller View Post
    I've got a pic of her someplace where she's got a black eye, and still smiling. She looks totally cute even with the shiner*.

    *not that I think battered women look cute... I think I'll stop here before I dig myself any deeper.
    Jack Dempsey: "What would happen if a year-old baby fell from a fourth-floor window onto the head of a burly truck driver, standing on the sidewalk?

    It's practically certain that the truckman would be knocked unconscious. He might die of brain concussion or a broken neck.

    Even an innocent little baby can become a dangerous missile when its bodyweight is set into fast motion."

  5. #20
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    I'd never date a full-contact fighter chick. Everywhere you took her after the fight, people would assume you'd just beat her ass like a wife-beater, and you'd get dirty looks left and right.

  6. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by GeneChing View Post
    Just got this press release from mmawoman.com.

    Saw it this weekend...they even threw around one of the NBC women.
    "The true meaning of a given movement in a form is not its application, but rather the unlimited potential of the mind to provide muscular and skeletal support for that movement." Gregory Fong

  7. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by ChinoXL View Post
    man... i wanna roll wid kyra ... she could so help me improve my game
    She improved mine. Too bad Feitosa was looking over us. You sort of get performance anxiety.
    Xiao Ao Jiang Hu Zhi Dong Fang Bu Bai (Laughing Proud Warrior Invincible Asia) Emperor of Baji!!!

    (Spellcheck by Chang Style Novice!)

  8. #23
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    Michelle Ould

    Can we get an IFL match between the Femme Fatal Fight Club and the Kung Fu Femmes?

    Femme Fatal Fight Club
    Michelle Ould Said She Hopes to Reach the Industry's Pinnacle
    Nov. 11, 2007
    During the day, 26-year-old Michelle Ould is a mother and a secretary. But, if you take a closer look, the normalcy of her life fades.

    Ould hopes to one day become a professional fighter.

    And with every kick and punch, Ould has proven the small, yet growing, group of female fighters is a force to be reckoned with.

    Even her kids know not to mess with mom.

    "They keep me on my toes," said Ould. "Sometimes I feel like I just don't have enough time in the day, but my oldest son says that he is proud of me so that's all that matters."

    Part martial arts, part street grappling and brute strength, cage fighting is an offshoot of ultimate fighting or mixed martial arts.

    "It's no holds barred," Ould said. "[You] can use your fists, your knees, your elbows, you can kick, you can kick in the face. So, you get in there and you do whatever you have to do, just short of breaking the rules."

    While some rules to govern the sport, it actually remains illegal in some states. A cage fighter can win a match either by knocking out her opponent or by having her opponent quit.

    "There's no difference between men and women in mixed martial arts," said Ray Perales, Ould's trainer. "We all have one overall goal and that is to be on top and be number one. I wouldn't take anything away from the women. They train just as intense, just as hard as we do."

    But even though Perales believes women work just as much as their male counterparts, a gender disparity exists when it comes to payment.

    For example, in Ould's last fight she made under $1,000, while professional male fighters, like Chuck Liddell, make up to $500,000.

    Yet, as the sort of female fight club gains popularity, so does its attention.

    "The idea that women want to be equal with men in everything -- including something so brutal so vicious and so unappealing to the vast majority of Americans -- it boggles the mind," and ABC News consultant Christine Brennan. "You see this and you think gladiator."

    America is tuning in. Last year ultimate fighting championship fights brought in more than 205 million in Pay-Per-View sales and the number of people watching has grown.

    And no matter how savage the fighting gets, Ould's dream continues.

    "I've always wanted to box," she said. "I always wanted to do all that."

    Her desire was tested for a second time at the Fatal Femme championship.

    The fight lasted less than two minutes and Ould lost. But she's still fighting.

    "It's a passion of mine," Ould said.
    Gene Ching
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  9. #24
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    ESPN article

    Not just a profile, but addresses the larger issue of female MMA fight promotion

    Women fighters carving their own niche in MMA
    By Michael Woods
    Special to ESPN.com Updated: December 18, 2007

    Felice Herrig, right, hopes that fighting helps open doors into other career platforms.

    Mixed martial arts can be an acquired taste, and the sight of one man sitting astride another, raining blows down on his opponent's face, isn't for everybody.

    Even those who can see the scientific aspects to boxing sometimes find the sight of a well-executed ground-and-pound session too gritty for their taste.

    Those who can't stomach two men engaging in such fierce combat are even less likely to accept the concept of two women trading bombs and getting their faces rearranged.

    But there is a large, ever-growing contingent of women who have gravitated to MMA. The runaway leader in the sport, UFC, hasn't latched on to the concept. But that hasn't dissuaded New Jersey's Tara LaRosa, a 29-year-old who excelled in field hockey at Catawba College, from amassing a 15-1 mark since turning professional in 2002.

    Her reputation as a well-rounded practitioner of all facets of the sport, with a penchant for closing the show with an expertly applied submission, has elevated her into the highest ranks of females blazing the MMA trail.

    The seed for her MMA career was planted when LaRosa saw scrawny Royce Gracie have his way with the jacked up Ken Shamrock in 1993. LaRosa didn't dive head-first into MMA then; she did the field hockey thing, and also picked up judo in college. Gracie's edge in technique remained in the back of her mind, and after graduating in 2004, LaRosa dove into MMA.

    Tara LaRosa, right, is the one female in a crew of twelve mixed martial artists at the Philadelphia Fight Factory. LaRosa trains at the Philadelphia Fight Factory, and proudly counts herself as the sole female in the crew of a dozen male mixed martial artists.

    "That's not unusual for females in this sport," she explains to ESPN.com. "That's usually been the case wherever I've trained. The first day you come in, they usually want to test you. They put me in with a guy that's notorious for going balls out, for not pulling punches. If I didn't complain, I was good. I didn't."

    That toughness, in mind as well as body, came into play this summer, when the unfathomable occurred. LaRosa's boyfriend of two years, Sgt. Adrian Elizalde, was killed by an improvised explosive device near Baghdad. The truck he was in was struck on Aug. 23. He was just 30.

    LaRosa was in Vancouver, doing some promotional work for Bodog. Elizalde's family called her on her cell phone and broke the tragic news.

    "I lost it," she says.

    Elizalde and LaRosa had met when she was an instructor in modern army combat in Fayetteville, N.C.

    Was it love at first sight?

    "It grew," she said with a laugh. "He taught me, I taught him."

    Elizalde was due to return from his tour in October.

    "He was going to propose," LaRosa says, her voice trailing off, her mind drifting perhaps to the little house with the swing on the porch she had pictured.

    Her fighting career hasn't been derailed. LaRosa is now mulling her next step, as she continues the grieving process, continues to fight the black cloud that descends when she hears a song that reminds her of Elizalde, or she runs through a move during grappling that he specialized in.

    Her Bodog contract is up Dec. 24, and she might re-sign with the organization or hook up with Showtime's EliteXC.

    With the explosion of MMA the past several years, athletes like LaRosa, who previously hadn't been able to pursue their passion after college because of the lack of a viable revenue stream, are now able to chase their dreams.

    With UFC the undeniable king of the MMA hill, other outfits have been cropping up, looking to establish a niche and make their mark. Elite XC, ProElite, the International Fight League (IFL), World Extreme Cagefighting, Bodog Fight, Spirit XC, Strikeforce and M1 are all looking to grow their niche, and employ various strategies to differentiate themselves. Since UFC chooses not to present female bouts, other organizations have tried to fill that vacuum.

    Augie Schumatti wrestled in college and felt the urge to compete after he graduated from Arizona State in 1990. He has been riding the MMA popularity wave with a Web site, MMAWoman.com. The site has attracted more than 400 women who have indicated that they want to take part in an MMA event, amateur or pro. Schumatti, who lives in New Jersey and has worked as a publisher of business directories, has signed up 50 female fighters. He hooks up fighters with promoters coast-to-coast who desire the presence of women on their card.

    "I set up the Web site to help fighters earn a living in a sport they love so much," Schumatti tells ESPN.com. "I had found that there were a lot of wrestlers, who were capable, UFC-level fighters, out there. We do everything from helping fighters set up and promote their academies to helping them strategize for asking for larger purses and structure their events. We also protect fighters from dubious contracts presented by suspect promoters as the number of promoters in the U.S. keeps growing."

    His site launched in May and gets around 8,000 unique visitors a month.

    Although no female fighter has broken the bank as of yet, there is a march toward purse parity. When a fighter hooks on with Schumatti's collective, they can expect to get paid between $1,500 and $3,000 per appearance on a card. The fighter will pay out between 10-30 percent of the purse to Schumatti, he says.

    He doesn't deny that attractiveness can go a long way in building a brand as a female fighter. Witness the sharp ascent of Gina Carano. The EliteXC fighter with a 5-0 record has parlayed her pleasant package of aesthetic facial symmetry, and her above-average genetic package (her dad, Glenn, played QB for the Dallas Cowboys from 1977-83) into a gig on the new version of "American Gladiators," which debuts on NBC in January. Carano will take on the moniker "Crush" for the midseason network offering.

    "Physical features don't hurt, they help," said Schumatti, when asked about the elevation of fighters who might look more like an NFL cheerleader than combatant on first glance. "Talent combined with physical attractiveness can make for a dynamic character. On Spike's 'The Ultimate Fighter' show, how many guys that look the same can they shove down our throats? That show's the Trojan horse of MMA. Women's MMA is very dynamic, and it will draw viewership."

    Felice Herrig has boxed, kickboxed and done Thai boxing on the Oxygen series "Fight Girls." The 23-year-old Illinois resident is planning to make her MMA debut (she hopes to do so with EliteXC) in the summer. Meanwhile, she's hooked on with Chuck Norris' World Combat League to keep her kickboxing skills in shape. Herrig acknowledges that looks do play a part in the growth of a female mixed martial artist's career prospects.

    "The looks thing works to my benefit," she says. "The female athletes that get the most recognition are the best-looking ones. I do want to set aside the stereotype that you can't have the whole package. People don't think that an attractive woman would be a good fighter. Usually good-looking fighters don't fight as well, that's what I'm going for."

    Herrig knows her shelf life as an active fighter is limited, so she wants to branch out, fairly quickly, and use the buzz from the fighting to get into films, or TV commentary. "I love fighting, though, and will fight as long as I can," she says.

    Is there a chance we'll see Herrig or LaRosa in a UFC Octagon any time soon?
    continued next post
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
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  10. #25
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    continued

    Dana, Dana, Dana...

    Don't count on it, says Dana White.

    In an interview with Pramit Mohapatra of the Baltimore Sun in January 2007, White mentioned he had no plans of adding female fighters to his promotion.

    "I'm not a huge fan of women fighting," he said. "Not to say that I don't acknowledge that there are amazing female athletes out there in every sport; I just think right now we had a hard enough time getting over the stigma of the men [fighting]."

    Schumatti points to the recent appearance of two rising mixed martial artists, Lisa Ward and Lisa King, on NBC's "Today Show," as evidence that the female fighter wave is cresting. The fighters, from the Fatal Femmes Fighting stable out of California, gave a fight demo on Nov. 11, and FFF got a mention in a Time magazine piece in July. "It's just like any other sport," he says. "It's only a matter of time before it stands on its own."

    Schumatti points to the inclusion of women's wrestling in the 2004 Olympics as a measure of acceptance for the public in being able to digest the sight of two women engaging in ferocious combat. "I don't believe there's any delineation between men and women," he said. "I've gotten my tail kicked by a woman in a gym five years during an MMA session!"

    LaRosa, meanwhile, struggles with the current dynamic that places nearly equal emphasis on looks and skills. As she continues to grapple with her stance on the premium of looks over skills in the fighting female sphere, at least she can take some solace in her rising purses.

    LaRosa's skills have certainly been opening eyes. She won't disclose her exact purses, but says she'll make between $15,000-$25,000 per fight, and aims to fight four times a year. No, it's not Chuck Liddell money, but it's full-time pay, and that's definite progress, for males and females alike.

    "I represent the common folk," LaRosa says. "I'm a common chick, not a stellar athlete, who shows that anybody can do it. I want people to watch me and say, 'Wow, that girl is good,' as opposed to, 'Wow, that girl is hot but her ground game stinks.' On the looks thing, unfortunately, that's the way society can be. I'm not the quintessential hot chick, but I bring a skill set. I'm not going to get implants to impress people."
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  11. #26
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    Where to put this?

    I wanted to post this on our Gay MMA thread, but y'all just couldn't behave yourselves there so it got locked.

    Then I thought the Ring Girls thread might be good, just to ttt it, but that's not really fair to Gina.

    Warning - this is from gaywired.com so all you ****phobes will feel queer after.

    Say hello to Gina Carano. She’s sweet, sexy, loves to tell jokes and can kick the ass of every person in the room… male or female. It doesn’t matter. Just ask her sparing partners. She’s a mixed martial arts specialist and she holds a 12-1-1 record as a Muay Thai fighter. Muay Thai… you know… Thai boxing that includes your fists, elbows, knees and feet as weapons -- just like Jean-Claude Van Damme in those kick boxer movies. If blood makes you queasy then you can catch her elsewhere. She’s “Crush” on the new American Gladiators Show. Different outfit, same great moves… Go ahead and laugh but this show is racy. Or at least some of the people on the show are.

    On the gossip side, TMZ.com had some interesting stories to tell about the American Gladiators' Show…

    When Belinda Gavin filled in her contestant’s bio for the show she listed professional bull rider as one of her proclivities. What she didn’t include was that she was a former adult actress and porn star with the screen / porn star alter ego name Kylie Wyote... and here I go again with that smile for the cute animal reference…

    American Gladiator Erin “Steel” Toughill also made headlines. Toughhill’s husband -- a fellow MMA specialist -- filed a restraining order against her for allegedly beating him up on their honeymoon. They are no longer married…
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  12. #27
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    american gladiator erin “steel” toughill also made headlines. Toughhill’s husband -- a fellow mma specialist -- filed a restraining order against her for allegedly beating him up on their honeymoon. They are no longer married…
    bbbwwahhahahahah !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Psalms 144:1
    Praise be my Lord my Rock,
    He trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle !

  13. #28
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    omg ya that is some funny ass shizznit
    For whoso comes amongst many shall one day find that no one man is by so far the mightiest of all.

  14. #29
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    When Belinda Gavin filled in her contestant’s bio for the show she listed professional bull rider as one of her proclivities. What she didn’t include was that she was a former adult actress and porn star with the screen / porn star alter ego name Kylie Wyote... and here I go again with that smile for the cute animal reference…

    Pure ****ing gold !!!!
    Psalms 144:1
    Praise be my Lord my Rock,
    He trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle !

  15. #30
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    i wonder how many gladiator fans looked that up once they found out.
    For whoso comes amongst many shall one day find that no one man is by so far the mightiest of all.

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