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Kim Couture Says MMA Rules Should Be the Same for Women and Men, I Say She's Right

By Michael David SmithPosted: Jun 29th 2008 5:01 PM

After the serious beating that Kim Couture took in her professional mixed martial arts debut, many observers have used the fight as evidence that women's MMA should consist of three-minute rounds, rather than five-minute rounds. Couture appeared on ESPN Radio in Las Vegas to make her case that women should be treated the same as men inside the cage:

I agree with Couture: There's no reason that females can't make it through five-minute rounds, and shorter rounds wouldn't have prevented her broken jaw and bloody face. I like Couture, I like women's MMA, and I think that aside from obvious differences like having female competitors wear shirts and including pregnancy tests with pre-fight physicals, women's MMA should be treated the same as men's MMA.

However, I do agree with ESPN Radio hosts Cofield & Cokin (whose show I have appeared on) that Couture came across as ill-prepared for the fight, and that it's a good thing for the sport that the fight wasn't televised. Couture may some day be a good pro fighter, but right now she'd be better off sparring with amateurs.

Previously on FanHouse:
Kim Couture: Kim Rose Broke My Jaw When I Tried to Touch Gloves
Couture Bloodied in Pro MMA Debut, Loses by Unanimous Decision
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'Gymnastics Is Much More Brutal Than MMA'

By Michael David SmithPosted: Jun 27th 2008 10:45 AM

David A Avila of NBC Sports has a story about a book written by a pair of college professors who spent two years studying mixed martial arts. This part is particularly noteworthy:
Another interesting topic hit by the authors is the safety issue. Is MMA still too dangerous?

The two writers delve into that issue with both hands and do a great job of comparing MMA to sports like boxing, football, rugby, and other sports where there is physical contact.

"Football is much more violent. ...There's a former female gymnast who is now in MMA and she says gymnastics is much more brutal."

Many people have such a visceral reaction to the blood in MMA that they're incapable of any real examination of the safety of the sport. But there's no doubt that it's less dangerous than football, and I'm not at all surprised to hear that gymnastics -- which leaves thousands of girls with permanent back and joint injuries -- is viewed as more brutal by someone who has participated in both.

What opponents of MMA really have a problem with isn't that MMA is dangerous, it's that it looks dangerous. It's too bad so many people fail to make that distinction.
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Kim Couture: Kim Rose Broke My Jaw When I Tried to Touch Gloves

By Michael David SmithPosted: Jun 26th 2008 12:34 PM

I previously mentioned that Kim Couture was badly bloodied in her professional mixed martial arts debut against Kim Rose last weekend. But I didn't realize exactly how Couture's jaw was broken until I read this interview with Sherdog and re-watched the video of the first round:

The fight begins 2:30 into that video, after the introductions, and you can see that Rose lands a vicious right hand at the outset.
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Gina Carano: 'No Excuse to Not Make Weight'

By Michael David SmithPosted: Jun 25th 2008 7:39 PM

When Gina Carano failed to make weight for her EliteXC fight on CBS last month, I wrote that it was totally unacceptable, and I was surprised by how many MMA fans tried to make excuses for her. So I was glad to see that Carano herself isn't making excuses:

"There's really no excuse, I don't think, to not make weight," Carano said. "There's no excuse. I just didn't make it and so I'm going to have to try harder next time."

Carano also said she agreed with her opponent, Kaitlin Young, that their fight should have gone on, despite Young's badly bruised face: "In guy fights, they don't stop it until it's cut," Carano said.

Carano said she expects to fight next in October.

UPDATE: Carano previously responded to my criticism in this interview with Dave Hollander.
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Kim Couture Bloodied in Pro MMA Debut, Loses to Kim Rose by Unanimous Decision

By Michael David SmithPosted: Jun 23rd 2008 11:28 AM

After Gina Carano, America's second most famous female mixed martial arts fighter is probably Kim Couture, the wife of Randy Couture. But while Carano put on an impressive showing on CBS last month, things did not go well Saturday night for Couture:

Kim Rose defeated Couture handily, winning 30-27 on all three judges' cards, and left Couture bleeding profusely with a broken nose and broken jaw.

Couture had previously done some exhibitions, but that was her first professional MMA fight. Given how it went, no one could blame her if she decides to make it her last fight as well, but she has already said that as soon as doctors clear her to fight again, she'll be back.
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Judo Olympian Ronda Rousey Could Be an MMA Star -- If Her Mom Will Let Her

By Michael David SmithPosted: Jun 12th 2008 8:11 AM

There's a lot to like about Ronda Rousey. She's America's best hope for an Olympic medal in judo this summer, she's a passionate advocate for her sport, and she has a blog that shows she's smart and funny.

Unfortunately, beyond those two weeks in August in Beijing, she's not going to have many opportunities to be in the public eye, or to make a living as a professional athlete. So that's why it makes sense that, as Beau Dure of USA Today reports, she's considering turning her attention to mixed martial arts:

"I have quite a few people who have been trying to get me to do MMA," Rousey says. "A coach has been talking to me about teaching me striking (punches, kicks) after the Olympics....

"My mom's generally not a big fan of the idea, so we'll see if I can convince her,"
I hope Rousey's mom OKs the idea, because while there are more opportunities than ever before for women to compete as amateurs in sports like boxing, wrestling and judo, there aren't many opportunities in those sports for those women to become professionals. MMA is Rousey's best chance to make a living doing what she loves.

Via Savage Science.
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The Empire (And Amanda Lucas's Opponent) Strikes Back

By Josh AlperPosted: Jun 3rd 2008 10:45 AM

Any women who really hated the new Indiana Jones flick or anything else from George Lucas's filmography have a pretty good way to voice their displeasure. They can take up mixed martial arts and beat the stuffing out of his daughter Amanda. As you can see from the picture at right, the young lady can take a few punches.

The younger Lucas took part in a Princesses of Pain event in New Zealand over the weekend, part of a worldwide effort to create an women's international fight league. It was her first fight and, from the looks of things, she might have spent a little too much time training agaisnt Ewoks instead of full-sized humans.

The Sunday News of New Zealand reports that she might look familiar to really dedicated watchers of the latest three films of the Star Wars saga.

She was dancer Diva Funquita and the voice of Trade Federation battleship communications officer Tey How in Episode I The Phantom Menace, Outlander Club patron Adnama (Amanda spelled backwards) in Episode II Attack of the Clones, and Senator Terr Taneel in Episode III Revenge of the Sith.

She also spent time teaching hip-hop dance in San Francisco which helped neither her ability to evade strikes nor the creation of a racially inoffensive Jar Jar Binks. May the force be with her in future battles.

(H/T 100% Injury Rate at FanIQ)

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Kaitlin Young Says She Could Have Continued, Fight vs. Gina Carano Should Have Gone On

By Michael David SmithPosted: Jun 2nd 2008 4:42 PM

The main event of Saturday night's EliteXC show had a controversial ending, as Kimbo Slice beat James Thompson on an early stoppage. But that wasn't the night's only controversial ending.

In Saturday's women's fight, Gina Carano defeated Kaitlin Young when Young didn't answer the bell for the third round. But now Young is speaking out and saying that she thought she could have kept going, her corner thought she could have kept going and even the cageside doctor thought she could have kept going.

Epic Carnival reports that Young is taking to a women's MMA web site to explain what happened.
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CBS, EliteXC Should Have Opened the Show With Gina Carano and Kaitlin Young

By Michael David SmithPosted: May 31st 2008 10:18 PM

After a dull first hour, the EliteXC CBS prime time show finally got interesting when the women's fight started.

Gina Carano stayed undefeated in her mixed martial arts career with a second-round TKO of Kaitlin Young. The fight was far superior to anything the male fighters gave the fans in the first two fights of the CBS card. Young was game, but Carano's superior Muay Thai skills won out: She pummeled Young repeatedly late in the second round, and the doctor came in afterward and said there wouldn't be a third.

"I've got to give it up to Kaitlin," Carano said afterward. "She's one of my toughest opponents, and she's a class chick."

Although Carano made herself and her sport look bad by failing to make weight on Friday, she made herself and her sport look good by winning Saturday. CBS and EliteXC should have started the show with these two, rather than the dull foursome of Brett Rogers, Jon Murphy, Joey Villasenor and Phil Baroni. It shouldn't have taken more than an hour for this show to get interesting.
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EliteXC: Gina Carano Fails to Make Weight, Kaitlin Young Fight Will Go On

By Michael David SmithPosted: May 30th 2008 5:04 PM

EliteXC had the weigh-in for its Saturday night CBS show today, and the face of women's mixed martial arts, Gina Carano, failed to make weight.

Carano weighed in at 144.5 pounds, or 3.5 pounds over the limit. Her opponent, Kaitlin Young, weighed in at 140.5. The fight will not be canceled, though. Carano will have to surrender 12.5% of her purse to Young.

I've been a supporter of Carano's, but this is totally unacceptable. If she can't make weight for the biggest fight in the history of women's mixed martial arts, she's not dedicated enough to her sport.

All of the other fighters on the EliteXC card made weight. In the main event, Kimbo Slice weighed in at 235.5 and his opponent, James Thompson, weighed 257.

EliteXC weigh-in results: MMA Mania, MMA Frenzy.
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EliteXC Considering All-Female MMA Card

By Michael David SmithPosted: May 13th 2008 6:32 PM

The biggest draw for EliteXC's first CBS show later this month is Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson. But the second-biggest draw may be Gina Carano, America's best-known women's mixed martial arts fighter, who will get another publicity boost tonight when ESPN features her on E:60.

And EliteXC is already looking beyond the Carano vs. Kaitlin Young fight on that May 31 card to a day when, EliteXC President Gary Shaw says, they might do an all-female MMA card.
"We'll continue putting [women] on Showtime and on CBS, and we'll continue putting them on the ShoXC cards, as well," Shaw said. "The fight team and (EliteXC matchmaker) Jeremy Lapen are working hard on additions for the female divisions."
Right now there aren't enough female MMA fighters under contract to EliteXC to pull off an all-female show, but Shaw says that's a real possibility for 2009. I think it would be great for the growth of the sport.
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A Hooters Girl Who's Also an MMA Fighter

By Michael David SmithPosted: Mar 22nd 2008 11:59 AM

Here's a look at Michelle Waterson, who fought and lost on Saturday night's XFA mixed martial arts card:

(Video via ballhype.) You've probably never heard of either XFA or of Waterson, and as she says in the interview, she's working at Hooters, as she's not at a point where she can make MMA a full-time job. To the best of my knowledge there aren't any women who are full-time MMA fighters.

But I believe women's MMA has the potential to help the sport's popularity. I also believe bringing women into the sport is a way that the smaller MMA organizations, like XFA and EliteXC, could gain some ground on the most popular, UFC.

In the video, Waterson says of UFC President Dana White's belief that MMA is a sport for men, "I completely disagree. Dana White's going to be Dana White and he can say whatever he wants but UFC's not the only venue we can fight in."

All it would take is a couple of female MMA fighters gaining crossover appeal in one of those other venues, and White will be sorry he's been so dismissive of women in the sport. I wish Waterson well.

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