(Yet another tragic defeat for the Zulu family. / Photo via Sherdog)
Look, we know it can’t be easy to find credible opponents for undefeated bantamweight Holly Holm (5-0, all wins by KO/TKO), who has deservedly picked up the unofficial title of Best Striker in Women’s MMA. Most of the top female MMA talent at 135 pounds is already in the UFC, with a couple of holdouts still working in Invicta. The fact that Holm isn’t already under contract with the UFC is by design: Her trainer Mike Winkeljohn says that he wants to build her name to the point where she can demand top-level money by the time she enters the Octagon, and walk straight into a super-fight. Until then, Holm will be padding out her record with whoever’s willing to take a beating.
Coming off her LFC 24 demolition of some woman named Nikki Knudsen, Holm will return to the cage on December 6th in the main event of Fresquez Promotions: Havoc against — get this — Angela Hayes, a 40-year-old bantamweight from Colorado Springs who carries a career record of 6-6. Hayes boasts four wins by guillotine choke, four losses by armbar, and hasn’t competed in two years. She sounds perfect.
“Havoc” will take place at the Route 66 Casino in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which means that Holm will have home-town advantage as well. Good grief. By the way, I tried to Google ‘Angela Hayes’ to find out more about her, and most of the results were about the Mena Suvari character in ‘American Beauty’. Not that I’m complaining.
(Yet another tragic defeat for the Zulu family. / Photo via Sherdog)
Look, we know it can’t be easy to find credible opponents for undefeated bantamweight Holly Holm (5-0, all wins by KO/TKO), who has deservedly picked up the unofficial title of Best Striker in Women’s MMA. Most of the top female MMA talent at 135 pounds is already in the UFC, with a couple of holdouts still working in Invicta. The fact that Holm isn’t already under contract with the UFC is by design: Her trainer Mike Winkeljohn says that he wants to build her name to the point where she can demand top-level money by the time she enters the Octagon, and walk straight into a super-fight. Until then, Holm will be padding out her record with whoever’s willing to take a beating.
Coming off her LFC 24 demolition of some woman named Nikki Knudsen, Holm will return to the cage on December 6th in the main event of Fresquez Promotions: Havoc against — get this — Angela Hayes, a 40-year-old bantamweight from Colorado Springs who carries a career record of 6-6. Hayes boasts four wins by guillotine choke, four losses by armbar, and hasn’t competed in two years. She sounds perfect.
“Havoc” will take place at the Route 66 Casino in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which means that Holm will have home-town advantage as well. Good grief. By the way, I tried to Google ‘Angela Hayes’ to find out more about her, and most of the results were about the Mena Suvari character in ‘American Beauty’. Not that I’m complaining.
Normally, this would be the part where I’d lament the fact that the UFC is throwing a total rookie (and such a pretty girl!) up against a veteran with 28 professional fights, but you know what, I’m not going to do that this time. Kedzie has spent her career tangling with elite fighters like Tara LaRosa, Gina Carano, Shayna Baszler, and Miesha Tate…and she’s been beaten by all of them. The crazy cat lady is currently on a three-fight losing skid, and hasn’t won a fight in over two years. Maybe her “experience edge” just means she knows how to lose. I don’t know. I’m not going to count Alexandra out yet. There’s just something about this woman.
The current UFC Fight Night 33 lineup is after the jump…
Normally, this would be the part where I’d lament the fact that the UFC is throwing a total rookie (and such a pretty girl!) up against a veteran with 28 professional fights, but you know what, I’m not going to do that this time. Kedzie has spent her career tangling with elite fighters like Tara LaRosa, Gina Carano, Shayna Baszler, and Miesha Tate…and she’s been beaten by all of them. The crazy cat lady is currently on a three-fight losing skid, and hasn’t won a fight in over two years. Maybe her “experience edge” just means she knows how to lose. I don’t know. I’m not going to count Alexandra out yet. There’s just something about this woman.
The current UFC Fight Night 33 lineup is after the jump…
(“I’m so sorry…I’m sorry…I’m…*looks down*…hey, those really are nice shoes.” Photo via Getty.)
If you’ve been following The Ultimate Fighter this season, chances are that, like us, you’ve been more than impressed with the quality of the fights themselves. Four great fights with four decisive (not to mention brutal) finishes have easily outshined most if not all of the petty drama that oft permeates the TUF house, a trend that has only increased since the program’s move to the FX and FOX Sports 1 networks.
In fact, episode 3, featuring the fight between Chris Holdsworth and Chris Beal, similarly drew in just 639,000 viewers. Here’s the thing, episodes 2 and 4 — which featured the female fights of Baszler/Pena and Rakoczy/Modafferi — performed significantly better than those featuring their male counterparts. As Meltzer writes:
For the Ultimate Fighter, there has been an up-and-down pattern in the ratings. As in, the week of a women’s fight, the audience is up. The two women’s fights, airing on Sept. 12 and Sept. 26, did 870,000 and 778,000 viewers live. The men’s fights on Sept. 19 and Oct. 3 did 639,000 and 640,000.
(“I’m so sorry…I’m sorry…I’m…*looks down*…hey, those really are nice shoes.” Photo via Getty.)
If you’ve been following The Ultimate Fighter this season, chances are that, like us, you’ve been more than impressed with the quality of the fights themselves. Four great fights with four decisive (not to mention brutal) finishes have easily outshined most if not all of the petty drama that oft permeates the TUF house, a trend that has only increased since the program’s move to the FX and FOX Sports 1 networks.
In fact, episode 3, featuring the fight between Chris Holdsworth and Chris Beal, similarly drew in just 639,000 viewers. Here’s the thing, episodes 2 and 4 – which featured the female fights of Baszler/Pena and Rakoczy/Modafferi — performed significantly better than those featuring their male counterparts. As Meltzer writes:
For the Ultimate Fighter, there has been an up-and-down pattern in the ratings. As in, the week of a women’s fight, the audience is up. The two women’s fights, airing on Sept. 12 and Sept. 26, did 870,000 and 778,000 viewers live. The men’s fights on Sept. 19 and Oct. 3 did 639,000 and 640,000.
Additionally, the DVR numbers for TUF 18 have been incredibly strong:
Viewership has increased anywhere from 32 percent to 37 percent from the initial reports when you factor in people who watched the show via DVR between Thursday and Saturday. For example, the Sept. 26 show, the most recent to have DVR numbers for, did an additional 272,000 viewers of the initial airing, pushing total viewership to 1.05 million.
The Ultimate Fighter has always been a strong DVR property as compared to most sports programming, but the increases have historically only been in the 15 percent range.
So it’s not exactly great news, but it does offer a sliver of hope for TUF‘s chances on FS1.
Personally, I’d love to help the show out by tuning in Wednesday nights. I really would. But if the UFC expects me to miss out on Always Sunny so I can listen to Momma Rousey hand down life lessons, they are sorely mistaken. Because I need characters whose problems I can identify with, and seeing an illiterate janitor, a sociopath, a tranny-lover with delusions of grandeur and a bird woman drunkenly argue about things they have no understanding of is like going to a family reunion every week for me.
According to multiple reports, the UFC has recently signed undefeated Russian striker Alexandra “Stitch” Albu to their ever-growing bantamweight roster. Who is Alexandra Albu, you ask? That is a very, very good question.
Although we weren’t able to find her actual MMA record anywhere in the world fight indexes, Albu is allegedly a 5-0 bantamweight with 4 first round knockouts and a first round submission to her credit. Additionally, Albu is (allegedly) a black belt in karate, a Moscow Cup-earning power lifter, a judoka and one of Russia’s top Crossfit competitors. We also gave her five out of five Schwings on the Wayne’s World Scale of Hotness, which makes the UFC’s decision to sign her all the more transparent. Not that we’re complaining.
Check out our favorite photos of Albu in the gallery above, as well as a couple videos of her in action after the jump, then fill us in on anything you can find about this woman in the comments section.
According to multiple reports, the UFC has recently signed undefeated Russian striker Alexandra “Stitch” Albu to their ever-growing bantamweight roster. Who is Alexandra Albu, you ask? That is a very, very good question.
Although we weren’t able to find her actual MMA record anywhere in the world fight indexes, Albu is allegedly a 5-0 bantamweight with 4 first round knockouts and a first round submission to her credit. Additionally, Albu is (allegedly) a black belt in karate, a Moscow Cup-earning power lifter, a judoka and one of Russia’s top Crossfit competitors. We also gave her five out of five Schwings on the Wayne’s World Scale of Hotness, which makes the UFC’s decision to sign her all the more transparent. Not that we’re complaining.
Check out our favorite photos of Albu in the gallery below, as well as a couple videos of her in action after the jump, then fill us in on anything you can find about this woman in the comments section.
Albu training in Phuket, Thailand
Albu beating the shit out of Pankration Champion Lyubov Demidova
In case you hadn’t noticed, Jessica Eye has been a Bellator fighter for the past couple years. The flyweight/bantamweight had been signed to the organization since 2011 but, like other women on the roster, she had trouble getting fights with regularity.
“I’m a smart woman so I knew something was up,” she chuckles.
“It was getting to the point where, if they didn’t get me my last fight in June, they would have soon been in breach of contract.”
Eye nonetheless managed to take on and beat marquee names such as Zoila Frausta Gurgel and Carina Damm (who botched a drug test moments before their fight), compiling a 10-1 record and seven-fight win streak since her pro debut in June 2010. At worst, Eye’s release from Bellator was bittersweet.
The MMA world was not at all surprised when the UFC quickly signed her to their bantamweight division and booked her against Sarah Kaufman, October 19th at UFC 166. The Cleveland fighter, however, never took the signing for granted.
“I’m 27 years old and that’s old enough to have learned that you shouldn’t assume anything,” Eye explains. “But I did have confidence that I had done enough in MMA that people had learned about me and that I would get picked up by the UFC.”
In case you hadn’t noticed, Jessica Eye has been a Bellator fighter for the past couple years. The flyweight/bantamweight had been signed to the organization since 2011 but, like other women on the roster, she had trouble getting fights with regularity.
“I’m a smart woman so I knew something was up,” she chuckles.
“It was getting to the point where, if they didn’t get me my last fight in June, they would have soon been in breach of contract.”
Eye nonetheless managed to take on and beat marquee names such as Zoila Frausta Gurgel and Carina Damm (who botched a drug test moments before their fight), compiling a 10-1 record and seven-fight win streak since her pro debut in June 2010. At worst, Eye’s release from Bellator was bittersweet.
The MMA world was not at all surprised when the UFC quickly signed her to their bantamweight division and booked her against Sarah Kaufman, October 19th at UFC 166. The Cleveland fighter, however, never took the signing for granted.
“I’m 27 years old and that’s old enough to have learned that you shouldn’t assume anything,” Eye explains. “But I did have confidence that I had done enough in MMA that people had learned about me and that I would get picked up by the UFC.”
When she did, the Strong Style Fight Team member recognized what a monumental accomplishment joining the UFC was, especially considering that women have only been in the organization for six months. “It feels great,” she says.
“That’s why I signed my contract in the [Cleveland] Browns stadium. I wanted to look up at all those seats and think about how far MMA has come and how far it could still go. I’m ready for this.”
“This,” of course, includes all the attention women fighters are finally getting because of their inclusion in the UFC, but Eye understands that she didn’t sign up for a parade at UFC 166 – she’ll have to fight another highly trained lethal weapon. “I would be an idiot if I didn’t think that Sarah Kaufman is a very hard fight,” Eye says.
“She’s a former champion, a veteran and has fought a lot of great other fighters.”
Eye is, of course, confident that she will be able to best Kaufman and earn her first UFC win. That supreme confidence extends to fighting bigger women in general.
Because the UFC currently only has one women’s weight division, fighters like Eye — who has competed several times at flyweight in the past — have to necessarily choose the higher division and larger opponents in order to compete in the organization. “Evil Eye” is undaunted.
“What a lot of people don’t realize is that there were about five fights where I fought at 131 pounds or 132 pounds, and it was getting harder to make that weight or 125 as I get older. With 135, I can put on more muscle and feel strong and not have to worry about cutting weight,” she insists.
Practical considerations aside, however, one factor reigns supreme in Eye’s mind. “I’m not scared of anything,” she says. “I’m not scared of anyone. I don’t care. I’ll fight anybody.”
For years, UFC president Dana White was firmly against bringing women into the Octagon to fight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
In 2011, just two years ago, White told TMZ that women would “never” fight for his promotion. And yet now, in 2013, there are 15 women signed to a Zuffa contract and the UFC women’s bantamweight division is quickly becoming one of the promotion’s most crowd-pleasing weight classes.
So what changed?
The answer is simple: Ronda Rousey emerged as a superstar, and it’s Rousey that has singlehandedly brought women’s MMA into the mainstream — although White must be praised for giving her and other female fighters the platform to perform.
Now I really hate admitting this is the case, because I have been a fan of women’s fights ever since the HOOKnSHOOT days and I want to believe it was all of the women in sum putting on great fights that changed White’s mind, but it’s not a coincidence that White’s softened stance on allowing females to compete in the UFC coincided with Rousey’s unbeaten run to the top of the sport.
White, who is one of the smartest promoters in all of combat sports, was quick to realize Rousey could be a draw based on her good looks and vicious fighting style, and therefore make his company a lot of money, and the decision was made to bring her along with some other notable 135-pound females into the UFC earlier this year as a test drive of sorts.
And so far, the ride has been nothing but smooth.
UFC 157, which took place in February, featured not only the first women’s fight in UFC history but it was also the first UFC event to be headlined by two female fighters (Rousey and Liz Carmouche), and yet it did 450,000 PPV buys and a $1.35-million U.S. gate despite having a poor undercard. To the UFC, those numbers were a huge success and a slew of ladies were quickly signed by White and Co., who realized the fans loved Rousey vs. Carmouche and that they’d probably enjoy watching even more women fight.
(Is the women’s bantamweight division still reliant on the star power of its champion? / Photo via Getty)
For years, UFC president Dana White was firmly against bringing women into the Octagon to fight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
In 2011, just two years ago, White told TMZ that women would “never” fight for his promotion. And yet now, in 2013, there are 15 women signed to a Zuffa contract and the UFC women’s bantamweight division is quickly becoming one of the promotion’s most crowd-pleasing weight classes.
So what changed?
The answer is simple: Ronda Rousey emerged as a superstar, and it’s Rousey that has singlehandedly brought women’s MMA into the mainstream — although White must be praised for giving her and other female fighters the platform to perform.
Now I really hate admitting this is the case, because I have been a fan of women’s fights ever since the HOOKnSHOOT days and I want to believe it was all of the women in sum putting on great fights that changed White’s mind, but it’s not a coincidence that White’s softened stance on allowing females to compete in the UFC coincided with Rousey’s unbeaten run to the top of the sport.
White, who is one of the smartest promoters in all of combat sports, was quick to realize Rousey could be a draw based on her good looks and vicious fighting style, and therefore make his company a lot of money, and the decision was made to bring her along with some other notable 135-pound females into the UFC earlier this year as a test drive of sorts.
And so far, the ride has been nothing but smooth.
UFC 157, which took place in February, featured not only the first women’s fight in UFC history but it was also the first UFC event to be headlined by two female fighters (Rousey and Liz Carmouche), and yet it did 450,000 PPV buys and a $1.35-million U.S. gate despite having a poor undercard. To the UFC, those numbers were a huge success and a slew of ladies were quickly signed by White and Co., who realized the fans loved Rousey vs. Carmouche and that they’d probably enjoy watching even more women fight.
In fact, the only bad women’s fight so far in the UFC was Julie Kedzie vs. Germaine de Randamie, meaning that of the seven female fights promoted so far by the UFC, the fans went home happy six times. That’s a good ratio – very good, actually – and it’s why the fans can expect the UFC to sign more females to its 135-pound roster in the near future (former Bellator standout Jessica Eye is the latest to be inked), and possibly even introduce additional female weight classes as soon as next year.
It’s clear that with TUF 18 featuring women in addition to men, the UFC wants to push its women’s division even harder through the end of the year. The new season, which stars arch-rivals Rousey and Tate as the coaches, is almost guaranteed to be a ratings hit when it premieres this Wednesday, bringing in even more new fans who are drawn in by women being in the spotlight.
That’s why I expect the UFC at some point to make a push to absorb Invicta Fighting Championships, the all-female promotion run by Shannon Knapp that has quickly become known for its extremely exciting fights between the best women fighters in the world at 105, 115, 125, 135, and 145 pounds.
Although the UFC has an informal talent-sharing agreement with Invicta at the moment which has thus far worked out nicely for both parties, the UFC will likely eventually see them as a competitor and buy them out like they did with PRIDE, the WEC, Strikeforce, and so many others. There’s no doubt in my mind the UFC is going to introduce more women’s divisions soon and they’re going to need a roster of non-bantamweight female fighters, which Invicta clearly has.
If I had to guess, the next female division that will be added is the 125-pound weight class, as many of the UFC’s female bantamweights (Eye, Sexton, and Gaff before she was cut) were actually flyweights who moved up for the opportunity to fight in the big show, just like male featherweights used to move up to lightweight to fight in the UFC before that weight class was added in 2010.
If I had my choice, though, the UFC would introduce the women’s 145-pound weight class, as the #1-ranked fighter in that division, Cris Cyborg, is one of the most dominant pound-for-pound fighters in the world regardless of gender, and she deserves the chance to show off her wares to a bigger audience than Invicta is giving her. Even though Cyborg tested positive for PEDs in 2011, it seems as though the fans have forgotten about it pretty quickly, and that’s probably because they want to see a super-fight between her and Rousey — a fight that is sure to be a pay-per-view blockbuster if and when it goes down.
Personally I want to see Rousey fight the other top contenders at 135 before she moves back up to 145 and fights Cyborg, but I know a Rousey vs. Cyborg fight is big and it could make the UFC a lot of money if they’re ever able to put it together.
For now, though, I think the UFC is happy with Rousey fighting at 135 and that’s why she has been booked in the co-main event slot at UFC 168 against Tate, which is the UFC’s year-end pay-per-view show, and which features the rematch between Anderson Silva and Chris Weidman in the main event. If Rousey can help the PPV exceed 1,000,000 buys — Silva vs. Weidman at UFC 162 did only a tad more than half a million, and their rematch is expected to draw somewhere north of that — that will prove Rousey’s drawing power and importance to the growth of women’s MMA better than any other statistic.
It took women a long time to find their way into the Octagon, but if the first six months of competition has shown anything, it’s that there is definitely an appetite from the fans for female fights, and that’s why I expect the women to not only stick around for the present, but to be one of the driving forces behind the UFC’s expansion in the years to come, in everything from television broadcasts to international markets. Ronda Rousey is very much responsible for much of that, even if there are many critics out there who don’t always give her the credit she deserves.
