I spent the last thirty minutes watching Usain Bolt run the 100 meters on YouTube highlight reels. It’s interesting to note that about 50 meters into each race, he starts looking around the stadium and celebrating his imminent victory. He could probably brush his hair, send a tweet, and stop for coffee at Starbucks before finishing the race and still end up with a gold medal wherever he’s competing. The Olympic games have shown the world that there’s absolutely nothing you can teach Jamaicans about sprinting that they don’t already know. Your advice would only slow them down and get them mad at you. For years, the same could be said for the UFC and the way they’ve chosen to do business. Whether the discussion included co-promoting with other organizations or the inclusion of women into actual UFC -branded rosters, the answer has been an unelaborated “No.” We’re not sure what changed Dana White’s mind about woman’s MMA. In fact, we’re not exactly sure if his mind was really changed whatsoever, but during Showtime’s All Access show covering the past few months of Ronda Rousey’s life, he had the following to say:
“In the next 10 years, if there’s a woman in the octagon, it’s probably going to be Ronda Rousey,” White said during the show. “There have been great fighters before Ronda Rousey. Gina Carano is beautiful. Cris ‘Cyborg’ (Santos) is incredibly talented and goes in and wrecks people. But what changed me and what I think changed a lot of people about women’s MMA was Tate vs. Rousey. That was a fight worthy of a men’s fight: two incredibly talented women who are very well-rounded, and it doesn’t hurt when they’re beautiful too.”
I think what Dana is suggesting is that watching beautiful women beat each other up sounds like something UFC fans would be into. I mean, we’re already into women beating each other up, so being attractive would only make it more enjoyable. To be honest, if they weren’t pretty, I’d still be into it, but they are, so it’s twice as cool. Props to the UFC president for putting aside that “I don’t think the talent is deep enough in the women’s divisions” excuse and finally entertaining the thought of having women share the spotlight on the world’s biggest MMA stage. The next time we see you, we’ll have Cat Von C bake you some cookies and give you big hug. In the meantime, watch the complete episode of Showtime’s All Access look into Ronda Rousey. [Source]
