Months ago, the UFC made headlines when Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey was added to the UFC and booked to headline a card opposite Liz Carmouche. That bout, however, is the only fight involving women that the UFC has scheduled to this point.
With that in mind, the MMA media has been clamoring for more details on women’s MMA in the UFC and, at long last, Dana White opened up a little bit on the sport’s future. The news is not great.
Dana White, Nick Diaz and Georges St-Pierre are currently in Montreal hyping UFC 158. While no video is up yet, Mike Bohn from MMAMania.com posted a critical note from the festivities on Twitter:
White said that another female fight won’t be booked in the UFC until after Ronda Rousey vs. Liz Carmouche at UFC 157.
— Mike Bohn (@MikeBohnMMA) January 23, 2013
That is big news for a few reasons.
While Ronda Rousey is the only woman booked for a fight, she is not the only woman employed by the UFC. Miesha Tate announced the same day as Rousey that she was now a part of the UFC. This has led many fans to wonder if White was waiting to see how UFC 157 panned out before booking any other fights.
Those rumblings seem to be true.
While UFC 157 has gotten a great deal of hype from the MMA media, there are several hurdles to overcome. In addition to the fact that the general receptiveness of MMA fans to women fighting is still unknown, the venue is not a surefire sellout, either. With this in mind, the text between the lines here is clear.
If Ronda Rousey loses, and/or if UFC 157 flops, it will likely be the end of women’s MMA in the UFC.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com