One of the more interesting things this week was a fairly engaging “showdown” between Strikeforce champion Miesha Tate and wannabe challenger Ronda Rousey during MMA Fighting’s “MMA Hour.” Ariel Helwani, quickly becoming our sport’s version of Howard Cosell, got both on the line and struggled to get a word in edge wise as the champion and the judoka bantered about whether or not Rousey deserved a title shot four fights into her career. It’s a fairly standard conversation you can have with a young prospect being pushed to the front of the line they may or may not deserve.
Anderson Silva famously got a title shot against Rich Franklin after dismantling Chris Leben in his debut in a way no one has done before, or since. It seems silly in retrospect given how dominant of a champion he’s been but it was argued that Silva didn’t deserve the title shot against Franklin after one victory. We look back it now and retrofit history to fit the narrative of “The Spider” coming in and immediately dominating but his title shot so quickly after his debut wasn’t something everyone agreed on as it happened.
Brock Lesnar leveraged some dominant moments against Frank Mir in a loss that exposed his newness to the sport and an equally dominating win over Heath Herring into a title shot against Randy Couture. Lesnar’s ability to boost the box office receipts on both live events and pay per view had something to do with his placement in a main event; his victory over Couture and two title defenses rewarded Zuffa immensely.
You could argue that Rousey, who has some of the best if not the best athletic credentials in women’s MMA, ought to be pushed into a title shot just as quickly after some devastating tutorials on how to apply an arm bar. Undefeated at 4-0, all quick stoppages, Rousey may not have the depth of resume to fight for a title but she has that “it” factor that makes her seemingly worthy of the title shot. It’s the same feeling that was in the air after Lesnar destroyed Herring and Silva knocked out Leben.
But then something interesting came up: Tate went on the offensive about Rousey leveraging her looks alongside her record, as well as some bravado, into getting a title shot that the champion feels undeserving. It’s rather amusing the champion would resort to pushing that narrative considering Tate’s Twitter feed has an interest picture of her to go along with the various photo spreads over the years capitalize on her looks. But it brings up a bigger point. Do looks matter in WMMA? Absolutely. How so?
If looks didn’t matter in women’s MMA, Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos would be as heavily promoted as Gina Carano is/was.
One of the interesting things about the promotion of women’s fighting so far has been that Carano has been the public face of WMMA whenever it’s considered by sports media, et al. Carano has visibility; she was prominently featured on the Hulk Hogan hosted “American Gladiators” reboot that failed to capture an audience and is seemingly transitioning into an acting career with a lead role in the Steven Soderbergh helmed “Haywire” that has a substantial cast and budget. And after a fairly light career as a fighter she came into the national spotlight more on how she looked than what she did. Even after Santos destroyed her on a card designed to turn Carano into a champion and into perhaps a draw, Carano is still viewed as the face of women’s MMA despite not having fought since that one-sided mauling to the Brazilian. Yet she’s still referred to by most in that capacity.
Indeed her biggest accomplishment in MMA seems to be having voted into the Top 20 of Ask Men’s “Hot 100″ list. But why is she still featured prominently as a fighter first? Because of her looks, first and foremost, as it can’t be argued that her fights have continued to capture the MMA world’s imagination.
That’s what Santos has done in short order; the fact that she’s had a year plus layoff because they can’t find someone competitive to fight her is a noteworthy accomplishment in its own right. Santos’s destruction of Jan Finney was painful to watch because Finney was outclassed in every aspect. It was the perfect victory for Santos, and one that should still be replayed on highlight reels, but instead the women’s MMA world is seemingly concerned with others besides her. Why so?
Because she’s not the prettiest girl in the division and unfortunately part of the appeal of WMMA is in the sex appeal.
Rousey and Tate are both tremendous fighters but this conversation wouldn’t matter as much if either fighter weren’t candidates to be in Maxim’s “Women of MMA” issue. It’d be just another challenger and champion bantering back and forth, stirring up interest in a fight down the road. Rousey wouldn’t be in her current position if she wasn’t a gifted athlete and fighter, of course, but being attractive in WMMA matters more than anyone is giving credit for.
If it didn’t matter then Tate wouldn’t pose in boy shorts for a “sexy” photo spread.
