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Would a WMMA Version of TUF Help or Hurt the Growth of WMMA?

UFC’s The Ultimate Fighter series has been a major factor in the brand’s mainstream success since it debuted in 2005.While interest in the show over the last few years has wained a bit, the new format of showing the fights live every week should b…

UFC’s The Ultimate Fighter series has been a major factor in the brand’s mainstream success since it debuted in 2005.

While interest in the show over the last few years has wained a bit, the new format of showing the fights live every week should bring back fans who may have lost interest.

There may not be a better time than now to introduce a women’s versions of TUF to help promote the growth of Women’s Mixed Martial Arts.

Think of a show in which the two coaches are Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano, with the live finale at the end being Carano’s return to fighting. Are you telling me that The Ultimate Fighter: Team Rousey vs. Team Carano wouldn’t be something you’d want to see?

Let’s forget the difficulties in seeing this come to fruition and focus on how it would help the growth of WMMA.

Men are tuning into a UFC reality show each week, and have been for the last seven years. The key demographic for TUF viewers are males between the ages of 18-34. The key demographic for a women’s version of TUF would be males and females between those same ages.

Hypothetically speaking, let’s say that both TUF: Live (Faber vs. Cruz) and TUF: Rousey vs. Carano debuted at the same time a couple of weeks ago with Faber/Cruz on FuelTV and Rousey/Carano on FX.

Do you agree with me in saying Rousey/Carano would have higher ratings than Faber/Cruz?

Having a TUF for WMMA would also address a very important concern for those involved with the sport. It would introduce us to more women fighters instead of continuing to promote just the handful of popular ones we have today.

For the sport to thrive, there has to be more than Rousey, Carano, Santos, Miesha Tate and Marloes Coenen (remember her?). The fact that we are still talking about Carano as being remotely relevant in the sport even though she hasn’t fought in nearly three years is alarming.

Ideally, the WMMA TUF show will give all MMA fans a greater respect for the women athletes and introduce us to female fighters that can help deepen the talent pool of the sport.

WMMA can only go as far as the fans will take it. If fans think male professional MMA fighters don’t get paid well, imagine the paychecks these female fighters are getting in the lower promotions. Fighters, male or female, can’t afford to spend all of their time training if they aren’t earning enough from fighting to sustain a living.

Having a WMMA version of TUF could go a long way in helping the sport dramatically increase it’s audience and allow it to stay in the mainstream for many years to come.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Women in MMA: 5 Reasons We Want to See Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano

Women’s mixed martial arts have been a point of discussion for several years now. While many loyal MMA fans enjoy watching the ladies, its shallow pool of fighters is the biggest reason it’s still struggling to stay afloat in the larg…

We are only two weeks removed from one of the biggest women’s MMA fights in the last three years. Undefeated judoka Ronda Rousey defeated Miesha Tate to win the Strikeforce Women’s Bantamweight title.

Rousey, in just five professional fights, has catapulted herself into the MMA spotlight once owned by a former headliner, Gina Carano. Carano was the unofficial ambassador for women’s MMA. She participated in the first televised MMA fight featuring women as well as the first women’s MMA contest to headline the fight card of a major organization.

Since her loss to “Cyborg” Santos, fans have been practically begging for Carano to come back to the ring—including myself.

Now that her Hollywood career is taking off, there hasn’t been much hope that she will return. Although, with the emergence of Rousey, I believe this is just the fight to lure Gina back to the ring. Given the allure of these two fighters, this fight must happen and here are a few reasons why.

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Urijah Faber’s BFF Rosie O’Donnell Thinks He’s Going to Be as Big a Star in Hollywood as ‘The Rock’ [VIDEO]

(“Stick with me, kid, I’ll make you an action star on the Hallmark Channel.”)

Well it looks like one glowing reference Urijah Faber will have on his resume when he starts applying for acting gigs will be from Rosie O’Donnell, which could go a long way if they’re looking to cast a teenage Bam Bam for Flintstones III.

The former WEC champ appeared on Rosie’s show on the Oprah Winfrey Network recently and the actress gushed over him, telling Faber that he has a bright future in movies.

“I wouldn’t want you to [be fighting when you’re in your 40s] either, honey, because you’re too charismatic and you’re too kind of… I think you’re going to have a career like ‘The Rock.’ I think you transfer over to showbiz and you could have a full career in movies with karate where you’re the superhero-like kind of guy.”

(“Stick with me, kid, I’ll make you an action star on the Hallmark Channel.”)

The former WEC champ appeared on Rosie’s show on the Oprah Winfrey Network recently and the actress gushed over him, telling Faber that he has a bright future in movies.

(Video courtesy of the Oprah Winfrey Network)

Besides the odd commercial, Faber says he did some acting as a kid, but explained to Rosie that he isn’t interested in doing casting calls. Sorry to break it to you, Urijah, but unless The Hobbit is looking for extras or a young pre-mountie Dudley Doright is needed for a prequel, you might be waiting a while by the phone for casting directors to call. You aren’t as recognizable as Randy Couture or Gina Carano, and you don’t have the swagger that ‘Rampage’ has.

You do know how to Dougie, though. We’ll give you that.

Heads Up: ‘I Am Bruce Lee’ Documentary Premieres Tonight at 9:00 p.m. ET On SPIKE TV

Just a friendly reminder for you to set your PVR for 9:00 p.m. ET tonight so you don’t miss the acclaimed two-hour Bruce Lee documentary SPIKE TV is airing.

The film, “I Am Bruce Lee,” is a theatrical release currently playing in select theatres in Australia, the U.S. and Canada this month, and by all accounts it’s definitely worth watching, especially if you’re a fan of the late great martial artist and actor’s work.

Just a friendly reminder for you to set your PVR for 9:00 p.m. ET tonight so you don’t miss the acclaimed two-hour Bruce Lee documentary SPIKE TV is airing.

(Video courtesy of SPIKE TV)

Featuring interviews with several MMA luminaries, including Dana White, Gina Carano, Cung Le, Jon Jones and Stephan Bonnar, the movie is a retrospective look at Lee’s legacy and how his films and dedication to martial arts affected those who experienced the cultural icon’s talents.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/SuperMovietrailers20)

Many fighters point to Lee as the reason why they got into martial arts and eventually fighting, so it’s no wonder they had so many mixed martial artists in the film.

Gina Carano to Star in Second Film; MMA Return Unlikely

(Yeah MMA made her a household name, but Hollywood magic made her a size 4.)

According to The Hollywood Reporter, female fighter and thespian Gina Carano has signed on for her second leading film role for the upcoming John Stockwell-directed thriller, “In the Blood,” which will likely mean that a return to MMA is not in the cards for the 29-year-old Strikeforce and EliteXC veteran.

“In The Blood” will begin production in Puerto Rico in the spring. The film is scripted by Dumb and Dumber’s Bennett Yellin and James Robert Johnston. Actor-turned-director Stockwell is best known for his work on Cheaters, Crazy/Beautiful, Blue Crush, Into the Blue, Turistas, and Heart.

(Yeah MMA made her a household name, but Hollywood magic made her a size 4.)

The film centers on Carano and her yet-to-be-cast husband, who is kidnapped while the pair vacation in the Caribbean. Carano’s character, who will be similar to Liam Neeson’s in “Taken” and Harrison Ford’s in “The Fugitive”, becomes a primary suspect in the disappearance and decides to take matters in her own hands to find her husband and clear her name.

In an interview he did about the film in November, Stockwell called it “an opportunity to take on a taut, tense paranoid thriller that delivers on a supremely engaging premise: what if the person you love vanished in a foreign land and you were the prime suspect in their disappearance?”

Carano, who hasn’t fought since losing to Cris “Cyborg” Santos in August 2009 at Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg, waffled about whether or not she would be returning to the cage in interviews ahead of the premiere of her first film, “Haywire,” which opened last month to mixed reviews. Now it seems like her mind is made up and that the lure of the big screen and bigger paydays coupled with the bonus of not being punched in the face and having to cut weight tipped the scales in Hollywood’s favor.

Goodbye, Miss Carano. We hardly knew you.

Is Mainstream Acceptance of MMA a Pipe Dream?

MMA, without a doubt, is quickly rising in international popularity as a legitimate combat sport. Is it a legitimate, as in legally sanctioned, sport? Yes, though not in all parts of the world; heck, not even in all parts of the United States, the UFC&…

MMA, without a doubt, is quickly rising in international popularity as a legitimate combat sport.

Is it a legitimate, as in legally sanctioned, sport? Yes, though not in all parts of the world; heck, not even in all parts of the United States, the UFC’s home country. (“Start spreading the news,…”)

Is it popular? Ah, you know it. Though what’s popular can be, and often is, equally notorious to the same number of people. Think Rush Limbaugh.

Accepted by the mainstream? Well, here’s where it gets murky: just how do we qualify or quantify “mainstream acceptance”?

By mainstream, I’ll limit its boundaries to the market of people who are generally allowed in most societies in the world to make major life decisions: 18 years old and up, men and women.

Regarding “acceptance,” well, my apologies, but I prefer a more tangible and measurable term: patronage. (Again, I’m sorry for the semantics.)

Patronage is objectively measurable in pay-per-view buys, gate attendance, membership in MMA online forums, subscription to MMA magazines, journalists on the MMA beat, companies sponsoring MMA organizations and fighters, number of television networks covering or showing MMA events, and other factors subject to cold statistics.

UFC President Dana White believes that the TV deal with Fox will capture and convert more fans for the UFC, and for MMA in general. And he believes MMA will reach mainstream status in two years.

He says (from Greg Beacham’s MMA headed to mainstream with ‘Warrior,’ TV deals):

We won’t be mainstream until we don’t have to explain what we’re doing – what the holds are, what the basic rules are. But people can learn about MMA in a lot of places now – on TV, in the movies, and with everything we do. We’re getting there, and we’re going to be there soon.

Now, let’s find the bar of mainstream patronage that the international MMA community aspires to reach.

Should we pore over the records of the international professional boxing industry and find out the all-time record-high profits that our sister sport earned in a year? Then, upon official confirmation, we set out to surpass it?

Just how far or near is MMA to enjoying mainstream patronage?

In lieu of finding the most appropriate standard, we know for certain that MMA—its bull charge led by the UFC—is growing by leaps and bounds all over the globe.

And since growth of mainstream patronage entails making the sport as inclusive as possible, either MMA recruits more from its male 18–34 demographic, or goes beyond it.

Spreading across the mainstream—becoming a predominant religion rather than just being a small esoteric cult—also involves progressing along the lines of certain values and ethics of modern society at large.

Take gender equality, for instance. MMA already has its share of women fighters and champions, but have they fought inside its most exalted arena, the UFC Octagon?

Arianny Celeste has been walking in circles inside of it, Kim Winslow has been refereeing within the confines of its mesh wall, but have women fought inside of it? No and there is nothing in the works yet.

This oversight remains to be addressed. Granting Gina Carano a short interview during UFC 141, and televising glimpses of Strikeforce Champion Miesha Tate and challenger Ronda Rousey in UFC 143 are appreciated. But they are mere token gestures to women fighters who’d rather be in the cage than out of it.

MMA, just like boxing, will never conquer every nook and cranny in the world, for this and that reason (or politician). But it can add another milestone to its growth and boost its mainstream patronage further by having women fighters compete in the arenas of its vanguard organization that is the UFC.

You’ll see, when watching Tate and Rousey’s athleticism and warrior spirit inside the octagon is no longer a pipe dream.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com