Author: Rocky Brown

The Nationwide Arena hosted a turning point in women’s MMA Saturday, with Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey.

Read my previous article; I wasn’t a believer. I didn’t feel that this card would take women’s MMA in the United States to a new level. A day later, I’m starting to fear I was wrong.

The Miesha Tate vs. Ronda Rousey clash for the Women’s Bantamweight Championship was quick, but worth the price of admission, and Sarah Kaufman’s slugfest with Alexis Davis thrilled the Columbus crowd.

From my vantage point, the women’s contests were the top two matches on the card. Most of the non-inebriated, informed fans around me seemed to agree, and I heard constant comments of, “This is a fight!” or, “This is awesome!” for both encounters.

In the earlier women’s contest, Kaufman threw everything she had at Davis, but Davis could not be put away. Davis showed a lot of heart, determination and looked like she had a chance to pull off the win late, but it was not meant to be.

Still, Davis won over the crowd and fans booed the decision when Kaufman was announced as the winner.

The fans didn’t boo because they disliked Kaufman, and when the Canadian fighter was shown on big screen later in the show, the Nationwide Arena crowd cheered and applauded the victor.

It was great start to a huge day for MMA ladies everywhere.

After the K.J. Noons vs. Josh Thompson match, I sat in my seat gearing up for the main event of the evening, and I noticed a few attendees pack up their belongings and leave the arena. Did they learn nothing from the Kaufman/Davis war in the preliminaries? Why’d they even bother waiting through the Noons/Thompson snoozer if they were going to leave?

Tate vs. Rousey was an even contest for a good portion of the fight. It looked like Tate could out strike Rousey at the beginning, but when “Rowdy” Ronda seemed tired of getting hit, she took Tate down.

Tate escaped Rousey’s first armbar attempt and did a good job taking Rousey’s back at one point. It looked like the contest was destined to head to the second, which would have been a first for Rousey.

Instead, Rousey hit a judo toss to the mat, and the beginning of the end began. She would mount and eventually finish the fight like she had her previous four—via armbar.

Rousey became a star last night. She backed up her talk, refused to feel bad for the damage done to Tate and the aura surrounding her grew.

So what’s next? It seems clear that Kaufman, who many said was the rightful No. 1 contender to Miesha Tate, will battle Rousey. The bout will no doubt headline a future Strikeforce card in the near future.

Women’s MMA now has a new top dog, two recent amazing performances to hang their hat on and the attention of fight fans worldwide.

It’s only a matter of time before we see these ladies on bigger and bigger stages in the future. 

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Tonight, Strikeforce is on Showtime, headlined by the Women’s Bantamweight Championship showdown between Miesha “Takedown” Tate and “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey.

It’s a big match-up for these two 25-year-old fighters. However, some have billed this as the most important fight in women’s MMA history, but is it?

This is the second major US event with women in the top billing. The first was Gina Carano taking on Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos for the inaugural belt, now known as, the Women’s Featherweight Championship in 2009.

That card featured two additional title matches featuring; Renato “Babalu” Sobral defending the Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Championship against Gegard Mousasi, and Gilbert Melendez defending the Strikeforce Interim Lightweight Championship against Mitsuhiro Ishida. Also, Fabricio Werdum fought on the card.

This card doesn’t have that. The common MMA fan probably hasn’t heard of many of the other fighters on the main card. Perhaps they remember Paul Daley’s name from his post-match punch on Josh Koscheck, but probably not.

This card rests almost entirely on the shoulders of Tate and Rousey.

The promotion for this fight has been a little different than the Carano/Cyborg encounter. Tate and Rousey have been promoted as beautiful women who can kick serious butt, and they can.

Rousey is an Olympic bronze medal winner in women’s judo and is 4-0 in her career, with every win coming by submission via armbar.

Tate, the current champion, is no slouch in her own right. She is 12-2 with her wins coming via a variety of finishes and is on a roll with six straight wins.

This fight is going to be entertaining, and these women have done a fantastic job selling it, but back to my original point—

This fight will not make or break women’s MMA in the United States, just like Carano vs. Cyborg didn’t make or break it.

Heck, people thought that it would slowly die off without the Haywire star, and here we are gearing up for two women neither named Gina Carano, headlining an event on Showtime.

The main thing this fight is going to offer is the ability to gauge where women’s MMA is at for Zuffa, Dana White and Scott Coker. It’s not going to bring women to the UFC, though it certainly could be a step in the right direction.

The other thing this fight is going to do is help slowly build the fan base for the women’s side of the sport.

Although this fight is important for women’s MMA, it seems that some people are attempting to make it be the defining moment for the sport, and it’s not.

Though, the Strikeforce ladies do have the attention of Dana White and he has said he’s ‘really excited’ for the contest (via MMAjunkie.com). With him assuming more control within the Strikeforce promotion, that can only be a good thing.

Personally, I’m not a big women’s MMA fan, but they have me interested in this match-up. With tickets still available, maybe I’ll make the trip to Columbus and check it out. Score one for women’s MMA.

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