After two nasty losses and more than a year out of the spotlight, Ronda Rousey has likely retired from UFC. Once upon a time, this would have been a death knell for womenâs MMA in the UFC, but now the UFCâs got an amazing crop of talent ready to get on with the show. Unfortunately, the organization isnât doing much to help them become stars.
This weekend, in the main event of UFC 213, womenâs bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes will attempt to defend her belt against Peruvian kickboxing dynamo Valentina Shevchenko. Itâll be her first defense of the year, after she battered Ronda Rousey into a distant memory at the end of 2016.
A few years ago, it was impossible to imagine what womenâs MMA in the UFC would look like without Rousey. After all, she was the reason UFC president Dana White decided to open up a womenâs division in 2012. She had everything: a captivating fighting style, a quick tongue, and an aura of take-no-shit invincibility. Rouseyâs star rocketed to stratospheric heights, garnering her the sort of mainstream renown even the UFCâs biggest stars from previous generations, guys like Chuck Liddell, Georges St Pierre, and Brock Lesnar, couldnât manage.
Then, at the end of 2015, Holly Holm knocked Rouseyâs teeth loose with a head kick from Southern Hell. In a flash, Rouseyâs lights went out, and her star began to fade. She spent most of 2016 out of the public eye, only for Amanda Nunes to spoil her triumphant return by revealing that, nope, Rousey still hadnât filled in the holes in her striking game. After 48 seconds of flailing around the octagon like a baby deer somebody strapped roller skates to as a cruel prank, Rousey stormed out of the arena and, to hear Dana White tell it afterward, the UFC.
Fortunately, womenâs MMA in the UFC isnât just The Ronda Rousey Show anymore, and it hasnât been for a while. As of now, there are three womenâs divisions in the UFC, with the newest, featherweight (145 lbs), being added earlier this year. Each of those divisionsâstrawweight (115 lbs) and the original bantamweight (135 lbs) division being the other twoâhouse some phenomenal talent. However, itâs been an astoundingly odd year for the UFC, and womenâs divisions definitely havenât proven immune to great âwhat the fuck is even happening anymoreâ plague of 2017.
It starts with star power, or a lack thereof. MMA is a sport focused on individuals, and when somebody like Ronda Rousey emerges from the pack and gets everybody from morning talk shows to the WWE to my dad gabbing, business booms. But even superstars get old, or they lose, or in Conor McGregorâs case, they decide to box Floyd Mayweather, because sure, why not. At the moment, the UFC is lacking stars in menâs and womenâs divisions. It has an excellent crop of potential stars on its hands, but it fixates on past successes to a fault. Fighters have to fit molds, or the UFC tosses up its hands in mock frustration before even trying to promote them. Basically, youâve gotta talk trash and start feuds like McGregor or combine Rouseyâs looks, smarts, and dominance. Otherwise, youâre chopped liver.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WXIUlc70zE
So now weâve got Amanda Nunes, the current womenâs bantamweight champion. In theory, sheâs in a good spot to receive a big promotional push from the UFC, after successfully holding onto a belt that spent the first part of 2016 changing hands like somebody slathered it in pork fat. And to be sure, a main event slot on a big pay-per-view UFC card is nothing to scoff at. At the same time, though, Nunes isnât being given appearances on mainstream TV or showing up in commercials every 15 seconds. The UFC is not grooming her to be a star, despite the fact that sheâs a dynamite knockout artist and the first openly gay champion in UFC history. The UFC paints in broad strokes with its marketing, and those are two very big bullet points.
The problem? Nunes doesnât have the right look or attitude for the UFCâs marketing machine. Her build is bulky and less traditionally feminine than Rouseyâs, and her English, while functional, doesnât lend itself to quips or talk show banter. While she defends her title in relative mainstream obscurity, non-title holders like Paige VanZant and Michelle Watersonâneither of whom have accomplished as much as Nunes, but both of whom are conventionally attractive and capable on cameraâare appearing on Dancing With The Stars and doing cover shoots for ESPNâs special âThe Bodyâ issue. Other fighters, like veteran Felice Herrig and ex-bantamweight champ Miesha Tate, have recently called attention to the UFCâs obvious skew toward traditionally feminine fighters.
All that in mind, it becomes less surprising, though no less disappointing, that womenâs strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczykâa rail-thin lightning bolt whoâs one of the UFCâs most dominant fighters, male or femaleâisnât a superstar either. Sheâs defended her belt five times, looking more and more masterful with each outing. She strikes with such speed that itâs mesmerizing, like watching a hummingbirdâs wings reduce somebodyâs face to paste. Oh, and sheâs mad smart and funny, too. But she doesnât have the UFCâs favorite âitâ factor, so she remains popular only among hardcore UFC fans.
Wasnt allowed to wear my weigh-in costume this time but the hunt is on tomorrow night! #TUF25Finale #BlackPantherCosplay #BlackPantherMovie pic.twitter.com/UnZXhB5yEt
â Angela Hill (@AngieOverkill) July 7, 2017
The UFC doesnât love it when fighters self-promote outside the mold, either. Earlier today, for example, strawweight fighter Angela Hill tried to do a casual cosplay of comic book/movie hero Black Panther at the weigh-ins for her upcoming fight. UFC officials stopped her, despite the fact that she made a name for herself by cosplaying when she was in all-womenâs league Invicta. Theyâve yet to give Hill much of a push in general, even though sheâs got an entertaining fighting style, a big personality, and is very good at Twitter.
It would, however, be shortsighted to say the UFCâs promotional double standard is the only thing thatâs put womenâs divisions in a weird spot. MMA is a sport where the winds of fate have a habit of blowing the best-laid plans off the table and into an active volcano.
For example, letâs quickly run through the recent history of the womenâs featherweight division, which the UFC finally deigned to open in 2017 after years of giving perhaps the best female fighter on the planet, Cristiane âCyborgâ Justino, the runaround. After christening the division with a title fight that didnât even involve Cyborg due to regulations and politics, the UFCâs first-ever womenâs featherweight champ, Germaine de Randamie, refused to fight Cyborg due to a past banned substance infraction
This presented a problem, because womenâs MMA is still a young and growing sport, and there arenât many female 145 lb fighters in generalâlet alone ones capable of challenging Cyborg. Eventually, the UFC stripped de Randamie of her title and arranged a fight between Cyborg and the featherweight champion of all-womenâs league Invicta, Megan Anderson. However, Anderson went on to pull out of the fight at the last second, citing âpersonal issues.â
The UFC then had to scramble to find yet another opponent for Cyborg. That ended up being the (thankfully) always-game Tonya Evinger, who is Invictaâs current 135 lb champ. When Cyborg and Evinger meet in the octagon later this month, it will probably be a solid scrap, but it wonât be the fight it couldâve beenâespecially given Cyborgâs habit of stampeding over opponents who canât handle her monstrous athleticism.
While the other two womenâs divisions arenât as thin as featherweight, theyâre also lacking in depth because while womenâs MMA has existed for years, it only recently broke into the mainstream alongside Ronda Rousey. Compelling match-ups, then, are sometimes hard to come by. Strawweight champion Jedrzejczykâs next challenger is a fighter who is, in all likelihood, still too green to be challenging for the belt, and Nunesâ title defense this weekend is a rematch of a fight from just one year ago. Itâs hard to get novelty-hungry crowds excited about fights like that, despite how interesting this weekendâs rematch stands to be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne-fA6FD59k
Still, I think the future of womenâs MMA is bright, with potential stars working their way up the UFCâs ranks and exciting talents like Mackenzie Dern and Heather Hardy (as well as the entire Invicta roster) making noise outside it. Its present, however, is something of a muddle. The UFC wants another Ronda Rousey, but itâs not likely to find one any time soon. In the meantime, itâs failing to make the best of the fighters it does have, asking them to be people theyâre not instead of emphasizing what makes them uniquely interesting. The UFCâs womenâs divisions will eventually give rise to more popular fighters and become less susceptible to the downsides of MMAâs inherent unpredictability. For now, though, theyâre contorted awkwardly, like a fighter trapped in an armbar, unsure of which way they should turn to escape.
