I don’t know if this is a sexist statement to make or whatever, but the great thing about amateur women’s MMA is that the fighters never, ever block punches. Sometimes, that can be really sad. But when the fighters are both awful evenly matched, it can be magical.
On Saturday night, amateur MMA fighter Jade Chun (the girl in the pink top) competed at Kansas City Fighting Alliance 10 against Taeler Jackson, and what Jade lacked in basic understanding of the striking arts, she made up for in heart, determination, and straight-up balls. For the first 20 seconds, the fight just looks like any other slugfest between two rookies with nothing to lose. Then, Jade’s like, “Screw it, I’m just going to throw standing hammerfists for the rest of the fight and see what happens.” She also starts using what I can only describe as “the imaginary shield defense.” It is glorious.
Eventually, Chun gets her lip split wide open by the marginally more competent punches coming from Jackson. Chun spits her own blood — angry, like Bruce Lee — and applies more and more pressure, and fires uglier and uglier punch-like-thingys, until Jackson is KO’d in a heap against the fence. The fight is a true underdog story, played out in less than five minutes. It’s probably the worst thing you’ll see today, but in a weird way, it might be the most inspiring. We are all Jade Chun, just plugging away, trying our best to succeed despite our total lack of ability. Sometimes tough is enough.
I don’t know if this is a sexist statement to make or whatever, but the great thing about amateur women’s MMA is that the fighters never, ever block punches. Sometimes, that can be really sad. But when the fighters are both awful evenly matched, it can be magical.
On Saturday night, amateur MMA fighter Jade Chun (the girl in the pink top) competed at Kansas City Fighting Alliance 10 against Taeler Jackson, and what Jade lacked in basic understanding of the striking arts, she made up for in heart, determination, and straight-up balls. For the first 20 seconds, the fight just looks like any other slugfest between two rookies with nothing to lose. Then, Jade’s like, “Screw it, I’m just going to throw standing hammerfists for the rest of the fight and see what happens.” She also starts using what I can only describe as “the imaginary shield defense.” It is glorious.
Eventually, Chun gets her lip split wide open by the marginally more competent punches coming from Jackson. Chun spits her own blood — angry, like Bruce Lee — and applies more and more pressure, and fires uglier and uglier punch-like-thingys, until Jackson is KO’d in a heap against the fence. The fight is a true underdog story, played out in less than five minutes. It’s probably the worst thing you’ll see today, but in a weird way, it might be the most inspiring. We are all Jade Chun, just plugging away, trying our best to succeed despite our total lack of ability. Sometimes tough is enough.
(Skip to the 2:50 mark to see what we’re talking about.)
Every time I hear that Marlon Wayans has another fart-joke-disguised-as-a-movie coming out, I have to remind myself that this is the man who wrote/starred in Don’t Be a Menace and Scary Movie or I’d probably walk into oncoming traffic. I mean, sure, Wayans has been relentlessly eroding our cultural understanding of things like “satire” and “parody”for over a decade now, but it’s hard to blame him when you realize how much money he is making to do so. Despite appearing to be a talentless hack like myself on the outside, Wayans is probably still a generally funny guy (unlike myself) on the inside, right?
Well, his recent appearance on Conan would seem to suggest otherwise. Apparently a big fan of our fair sport, Wayans recently appeared on Conan to promote his latest effort, Ghost Fart 2, and the topic eventually shifted to a tweet he had sent out about another Conan alum, women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey. “This is hot!! Girl on girl! #ufc @ufc @rondaroussey I just wanna smell her training gloves and feet wraps…” wrote Wayans during Rousey’s staredown with Sara McMann, which the UFC bizarrely chose to retweet because hey! A sort-of famous person acknowledged us!
In any case, Conan called out Wayans for his tweet, and Wayans proceeded to discuss his fantasy of having Rousey armbar his penis. It was the kind of joke you’d expect from the guy who honestly thought White Chicks was a funny enough premise to run with for 90 minutes, and I fully expect either Rousey or Dana White to respond negatively to it in the coming days.
(Skip to the 2:50 mark to see what we’re talking about.)
Every time I hear that Marlon Wayans has another fart-joke-disguised-as-a-movie coming out, I have to remind myself that this is the man who wrote/starred in Don’t Be a Menace and Scary Movie or I’d probably walk into oncoming traffic. I mean, sure, Wayans has been relentlessly eroding our cultural understanding of things like “satire” and “parody”for over a decade now, but it’s hard to blame him when you realize how much money he is making to do so. Despite appearing to be a talentless hack like myself on the outside, Wayans is probably still a generally funny guy (unlike myself) on the inside, right?
Well, his recent appearance on Conan would seem to suggest otherwise. Apparently a big fan of our fair sport, Wayans recently appeared on Conan to promote his latest effort, Ghost Fart 2, and the topic eventually shifted to a tweet he had sent out about another Conan alum, women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey. “This is hot!! Girl on girl! #ufc @ufc @rondaroussey I just wanna smell her training gloves and feet wraps…” wrote Wayans during Rousey’s staredown with Sara McMann, which the UFC bizarrely chose to retweet because hey! A sort-of famous person acknowledged us!
In any case, Conan called out Wayans for his tweet, and Wayans proceeded to discuss his fantasy of having Rousey armbar his penis. It was the kind of joke you’d expect from the guy who honestly thought White Chicks was a funny enough premise to run with for 90 minutes, and I fully expect either Rousey or Dana White to respond negatively to it in the coming days.
To the sane, she’s a potential money opponent for Ronda Rousey in a sea of female fighters who simply aren’t up to snuff. Holm is closer to Rousey athletically than most other women in MMA.
To the delusional, she’s the Woman to Beat Rousey™. This sentiment is great for selling a PPV, but let’s not kid ourselves. While Holm is head and shoulders above the division, Rousey is mountains above it.
Still, MMA fans like to speculate about such matters. And whenever a fighter like Holm wins a fighter–or a fighter like Cris Cyborg loses one…in a different sport–this speculation reaches a fever pitch.
Holm fought this past Friday at Legacy FC 30. Holm outclassed her opponent, Juliana Werner, throughout the fight and finished her off with a devastating head kick in the fifth round (check out the GIF via @ZProphet_MMA).
This is good news, isn’t it? Cyborg losing a Muay Thai fight erases all her credibility (we don’t actually think this but Dana White probably does), so Holm winning in such a devastating way must’ve impressed White, right?
To the sane, she’s a potential money opponent for Ronda Rousey in a sea of female fighters who simply aren’t up to snuff. Holm is closer to Rousey athletically than most other women in MMA.
To the delusional, she’s the Woman to Beat Rousey™. This sentiment is great for selling a PPV, but let’s not kid ourselves. While Holm is head and shoulders above the division, Rousey is mountains above it.
Still, MMA fans like to speculate about such matters. And whenever a fighter like Holm wins a match–or a fighter like Cris Cyborg loses one…in a different sport–this speculation reaches a fever pitch.
Holm fought this past Friday at Legacy FC 30. Holm outclassed her opponent, Juliana Werner, throughout the fight and finished her off with a devastating head kick in the fifth round (check out the GIF via @ZProphet_MMA).
This is good news, isn’t it? Cyborg losing a Muay Thai fight erases all her credibility (we don’t actually think this but Dana White probably does), so Holm winning in such a devastating way must’ve impressed White, right?
Not necessarily. Rousey’s immediate future, and therefore the immediate future of the UFC women’s bantamweight division (and by extension, women’s MMA) is still up in the air.
Second, Holm broke her arm in the first round of her fight against Werner. A picture of Holm’s supposed X-ray has been circulating around the web, but we haven’t been able to verify it (websites are citing “Facebook” but not providing a link; Holm’s Facebook has no such picture on it) . So this might be Holly Holm’s broken left arm, or it might belong to some plebeian:
Does anyone remember Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Kevin Jordan at UFC 56: Full Force? Terrible, just awful fight with an awesome ending? Meet the WMMA equivalent of that (or don’t, because we’ve kindly synched you up to the ending).
Yes, what at first was a run-of-the-mill, sloppily-contested amatuer fight between strawweights Joanna Bess and Kerri Jenkins* quickly became the thing of Hardrock MMA legend when Bess apparently enabled Super Saiyan mode by pressing Up, Down, Left, Right A+B+A+B, pulled a spinning backfist from the foulest depths of Hell, and uncorked it all over Jenkins’ mug less than 20 seconds into the third round. You think I’m exaggerating with that description? Listen to the sound her forearm makes when it lands. Look at Jenkins’ post-KO rigor mortis leg. IT LITERALLY FROZE HER IN TIME, GOD DAMMIT.
Does anyone remember Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Kevin Jordan at UFC 56: Full Force? Terrible, just awful fight with an awesome ending? Meet the WMMA equivalent of that (or don’t, because we’ve kindly synched you up to the ending).
Yes, what at first was a run-of-the-mill, sloppily-contested amatuer fight between strawweights Joanna Bess and Kerri Jenkins* quickly became the thing of Hardrock MMA legend when Bess apparently enabled Super Saiyan mode by pressing Up, Down, Left, Right A+B+A+B, pulled a spinning backfist from the foulest depths of Hell, and uncorked it all over Jenkins’ mug less than 20 seconds into the third round. You think I’m exaggerating with that description? Listen to the sound her forearm makes when it lands. Look at Jenkins’ post-KO rigor mortis leg. IT LITERALLY FROZE HER IN TIME, GOD DAMMIT.
As many of us noted following Ronda Rousey‘s quick win over Sara McMann at UFC 170, the women’s bantamweight division is quickly running out of viable contenders. Watching Rousey dispatch any and all opposition has been thrilling these past couple of years, sure, but it has also shown fans just how far above the skill level of her competitors “Rowdy” truly is. And unlike the middleweight division during the Silva era, the women’s bantamweight division is simply too shallow to keep feeding Rousey journey(wo)men and expecting fans to pay the price of admission.
With the division housing their quote unquote “biggest star” rapidly approaching purgatory, the UFC appears to be in dire need of a change-up. That’s where Joe Rogan steps in, as he did during an interview with KROQ’s Kevin & Bean Show (audio above) last Friday, stating that a “huge announcement” regarding Rousey’s next opponent is coming our way:
I can say no more than I’ve already said. I will tell you this, and this is a KROQ exclusive, within the next probably week or so a huge announcement will come about women’s fighting and I’ll be back in [the studio] and we’ll talk some more. It’s going to be crazy. Madness. I wish I could [talk about it now], but I would betray the confidence of my friend and employer.
Knowing Rogan as well as we do (I think Seth bumped into him at an expo one time, maybe?), this can only mean that Rousey’s next opponent is one of four people. Join us after the jump as we definitively rank those opponents in order of probability.
As many of us noted following Ronda Rousey‘s quick win over Sara McMann at UFC 170, the women’s bantamweight division is quickly running out of viable contenders. Watching Rousey dispatch any and all opposition has been thrilling these past couple of years, sure, but it has also shown fans just how far above the skill level of her competitors “Rowdy” truly is. And unlike the middleweight division during the Silva era, the women’s bantamweight division is simply too shallow to keep feeding Rousey journey(wo)men and expecting fans to pay the price of admission.
With the division housing their quote unquote “biggest star” rapidly approaching purgatory, the UFC appears to be in dire need of a change-up. That’s where Joe Rogan steps in, as he did during an interview with KROQ’s Kevin & Bean Show (audio above) last Friday, stating that a “huge announcement” regarding Rousey’s next opponent is coming our way:
I can say no more than I’ve already said. I will tell you this, and this is a KROQ exclusive, within the next probably week or so a huge announcement will come about women’s fighting and I’ll be back in [the studio] and we’ll talk some more. It’s going to be crazy. Madness. I wish I could [talk about it now], but I would betray the confidence of my friend and employer.
Knowing Rogan as well as we do (I think Seth bumped into him at an expo one time, maybe?), this can only mean that Rousey’s next opponent is one of four people. Join us after the jump as we definitively rank those opponents in order of probability.
We all know how much the UFC loves themselves a grudge match, and it doesn’t get much grudgier than Rousey vs. Cyborg. These two have been feuding since their Strikeforce days, and I don’t even remember what a Strikeforce is anymore. Now that Cyborg is making the drop to 135 lbs, one could picture Dana White forgetting the past to make a penny in the future, if you know what I’m saying.
The conspiracy theorists out there will argue that this fight will never happen on account of the UFC “protecting” Rousey. Fact is, Rousey’s value has reached a point where it will likely drop with every squash match she is placed in moving forward. There’s a ceiling on this whole “Ronda Rousey *is* WMMA” thing and it’s rapidly approaching. Booking Rousey vs. Cyborg not only sheds the notion that the UFC is protecting Rousey, but injects the division/sport with a marquee matchup that is sure to go down in the history books. Simply put, the women’s division needs its Chuck vs. Tito and Rousey vs. Tate was not it.
I’m speaking in hyperbole, but you get the point. The UFC is in the money-making business, and Rousey vs. Cyborg is the most profitable option that currently exists in women’s MMA. Dana White can call Cyborg a roidhead all he wants, but we ain’t fooled. You know who else The Baldfather publicly trashed before signing? Kimbo Slice. James Toney. Let that sink in for a minute.
Cyborg seems to be clean for the time being and the UFC would be insane not to book this fight while they still can. Even if Rousey were to lose to Cyborg, the money they would make off the fight and subsequent, immediate rematch would be well worth the risk of exposing a hole in Rousey’s armor (plus, everyone loves a comeback story, right?).
And finally, if you don’t think that Dana White would sign Cyborg the day after Tito Ortiz stepped down as her manager purely out of spite, then brother, you don’t know Dana White. I know we’ve been burned in the past, but goddamn it you guys, try to believe.
This one’s a bit of a curveball, because while the former boxing champion turned undefeated MMA fighter is the talk of the town amongst hardcores and Joe Rogan-type followers of the sport (hence why he would call the matchup “madness”), she is not exactly a hot commodity amongst casual fans/marks/outlanders, etc. There’s also the fact that Holm’s manager may be placing a higher price tag on his client than the UFC is willing to pay which makes her signing the far less likely scenario, but stop making points already, will you?
Holm is certainly an easier opponent to hype than either Alexis Davis or Cat Zingano — the latter of which is dealing with both a major injury and the death of her husband, so who knows when she’ll back — but has also yet to be tested against UFC level competition, let alone the woman who is dominating said competition. We’re not really sure if Holm could be the cause for this “huge announcement” or not, but she’s a higher probability than the next two options I’m going to list.
Just because Shooto chickened out on what would have been a tremendous step forward for equality doesn’t mean that the UFC can’t take the heat. You show me someone who *wouldn’t* pay to see Rousey vs. Caraway (or any male bantamweight of comparable skill level) and I’ll show you a bold-faced liar, friends.
This fight would be the epitome of everything Alice Paul campaigned for, and anyone who says otherwise is a misogynist.
I feel like an asshole even writing this, but there are some (wild and completely unsubstantiated) rumors going around that the UFC is trying to book Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano for their huge 4th of July weekend card, which hasn’t even been announced yet is somehow already lacking star power. And worse yet, these rumors are gaining steam.
You see, despite the fact that Gina Carano hasn’t fought in some five years and couldn’t make 135 even when she did, there’s been talks of her working with Mike Dolce or Dr. Phil or whatever, fuck you.
This is not going to happen. In fact, I will go as far as to say that if this turns out to be the case, I will decrease my daily CagePotato output by 33%. TRY ME, DANA.
Before I forget.
Alternate Scenario Worth Considering: Joe Rogan is Drinking the Dana White Kool-Aid
Remember all that noise Rogan was talking about Pat Cummins to hype up UFC 170? The Internet remembers. It seems more and more often these days that when the UFC is at a loss for words in regards to one of their subpar matchups, they send UFC Hypster Joe Rogan in to say some shit that not even Comedian/Podcaster Joe Rogan would agree with.
Maybe it’s nothing, is what I’m getting at. Maybe MMA is nothing. Maybe we’re all just counting down our days on this tiny, spinning pebble and deluding ourselves into believing it’s something more. Life. Death. Gainsbourg. It’s all for naught.
It’s pretty much the most nihilistic way of looking at a piece of non-news, but a necessary perspective nonetheless.
So what do you think, Nation? Is Rousey vs. Cyborg surely on the horizon? Or are we just jerking off?
Let’s get one thing straight: Calling Holly Holm a “franchise” is ludicrously premature. Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva are MMA franchises. Beyond that, the list gets very thin. In fact, the concept of franchise players is fading in every sport as the Lebron Jameses and Jacoby Ellsburys of the sports world show that their loyalty only extends to the highest free market bidder.
The argument could be made that UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey is a franchise athlete. After all, Dana White has admitted that the UFC only created the women’s division because of her. But Holly Holm is not on the same level of recognizability as Rousey. Sure she was a big boxing draw in New Mexico, but being a regional draw does not translate to franchise-level success with a global brand like the UFC.
Chances are, not many outside of the hardcore MMA and boxing fanbase have even heard of Holly Holm. The Holly Holm brand might bring a few new eyeballs from the boxing world but she is certainly not selling a PPV on her own.
However, just because Holly Holm is not a “franchise” does not mean she wouldn’t make a great investment for the UFC’s fledgling women’s division. Holm is a fantastic athlete. Once considered by many as the best female boxer on the planet, she was twice named Ring Magazine’s female Fighter of the Year. Training under Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn, she not only has the physical ability and attributes, she also has the right team around her to be a world champion in MMA.
It’s possible that Holm may one day be a UFC franchise athlete. She certainly has the potential to dominate a women’s division that is severely lacking in high-quality strikers. She could also develop into a legitimate MMA star. She’s personable, good looking and professional. However, she’s not there yet.
(Fresquez and Holm field questions after her win over Angela Hayes on Friday. / Photo via Getty)
Let’s get one thing straight: Calling Holly Holm a “franchise” is ludicrously premature. Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva are MMA franchises. Beyond that, the list gets very thin. In fact, the concept of franchise players is fading in every sport as the Lebron Jameses and Jacoby Ellsburys of the sports world show that their loyalty only extends to the highest free market bidder.
The argument could be made that UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey is a franchise athlete. After all, Dana White has admitted that the UFC only created the women’s division because of her. But Holly Holm is not on the same level of recognizability as Rousey. Sure she was a big boxing draw in New Mexico, but being a regional draw does not translate to franchise-level success with a global brand like the UFC.
Chances are, not many outside of the hardcore MMA and boxing fanbase have even heard of Holly Holm. The Holly Holm brand might bring a few new eyeballs from the boxing world but she is certainly not selling a PPV on her own.
However, just because Holly Holm is not a “franchise” does not mean she wouldn’t make a great investment for the UFC’s fledgling women’s division. Holm is a fantastic athlete. Once considered by many as the best female boxer on the planet, she was twice named Ring Magazine’s female Fighter of the Year. Training under Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn, she not only has the physical ability and attributes, she also has the right team around her to be a world champion in MMA.
It’s possible that Holm may one day be a UFC franchise athlete. She certainly has the potential to dominate a women’s division that is severely lacking in high-quality strikers. She could also develop into a legitimate MMA star. She’s personable, good looking and professional. However, she’s not there yet.
Holm hasn’t fought anybody even near the top 10 in MMA and it’s yet to be seen what will happen once she gets taken down by a quality grappler. Her last fight was a forgettable unanimous decision win over 40-year old Angela Hayes, who has a losing record. Even during her successful boxing career, there were those in the boxing community who felt Holm was protected by not facing top competition, like Cecilia Braekhus, and mostly fighting in her hometown.
Though her early MMA career has intentionally followed the boxing model of record-padding en route to a title fight, Holm needs to fight high-quality competition in order to demand anything close to six-figures upon entry into the UFC. Fresquez claims that Holm makes more than 80% of UFC fighters. That may have been true in her boxing career — although even that seems doubtful — but she certainly didn’t make that much fighting for Bellator and Legacy FC.
The Holly Holm controversy will likely devolve into a debate about unfair UFC fighter pay in general. That debate has been going on for years and will continue to rage for years to come. However, this is about the worth of one particular fighter in the context of the current WMMA landscape, and Holm’s management needs to be careful not to price her out of a potentially lucrative long-term UFC career.
Zuffa has shown that they are willing to let free agents sign with other companies if the UFC feels the fighters are not worth what they could get on the free market. For every Hector Lombard who gets signed to an inflated UFC contract, there are the Ben Askrens of the world who the UFC decides aren’t worth it.
Dana White has called Holly Holm “the female Conor McGregor” because of the amount of MMA fans telling him to sign her. There’s no doubt the UFC wants Holm but they don’t exactly need her either. They have a long list of contenders waiting to challenge for Rousey’s belt with Miesha Tate, Cat Zingano, Alexis Davis, and Sara McMann waiting in the wings. Holm versus Rousey would certainly be a high-profile matchup. It would be a marketing dream — a pound-for-pound world champion boxer versus the Olympic judoka and undisputed MMA champion — if we ever get to see it happen. At this point it looks like a big if.
The MMA landscape is littered with managers who have screwed over their fighters by overvaluing their clients. So far, Lenny Fresquez has done an outstanding job promoting — and some would argue protecting — Holm’s career, both in boxing and MMA. However, his recent claim that Holm needs a six-figure contract in order to sign with the UFC is delusional. Holm has a bright future in MMA. She would be a great addition to the UFC’s roster and could pose a legitimate threat to Rousey’s belt. However, Fresquez needs to recognize that WMMA is still in its infancy and the market value is not the same as it is in boxing. He’s doing his job trying to get the most for his client but he needs to be careful not to play his client right out of the UFC picture altogether.
If Holm is worth it, she’ll establish herself as a top contender and get her six-figure contract in due time. However, that time is not now.
