My Thoughts on Women's MMA: Part Duh.
by Beth on Mar 9, 2010 1:07 PM EST
in Random Thoughts and Ramblings
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PrintI recently wrote an article regarding my thoughts on women's MMA. I stated from the beginning that I never really considered myself a fan, but that I would be watching the Kaufman/Hashi fight with an open mind. I do feel like I did that, however, it was admittedly narrow-minded of me to form an opinion based on the very few fights I've seen.
Everyone jumped on this article pretty quickly and quite a few of you shared some fights that you thought I should watch. I've watched the fights and I have to say that I was really impressed with what I saw. In actuality, a lot of the fights I watched were much more exciting than some of the men's fights I've seen lately. It's as if some of these women knew that their fights would be representing what women can do in the sport, so they fought with as much skill and heart as they had.
Now, in the interest of honesty, I still found it a little off-putting watching women fight. Am I a victim of gender bias? Probably. But with all things that women have become involved in, my guess is that it just takes a little bit of time to get used to seeing women do things that I've only seen men do previously. And since I'm being honest, after about 15 minutes of watching fights it really started to matter a little less. So, basically if I had spent 30 minutes on YouTube before I wrote my previous article, my thoughts would have been different. But then you all would have missed the chance to jump on me and I wouldn't have wanted to steal that opportunity from you. I'm a giver.
There is one thing I have not changed my opinion on. When someone decides to give women's MMA a go and they see a fight like the Kaufman/Hashi fight, I believe that it is doing women's MMA a disservice. Most of you agreed with me that this was a pretty boring fight. What I've seen from other women's fights wasn't boring at all. Did Strikeforce jump too quickly in offering a title fight to these women? I've now seen other Kaufman fights and she is a friggin' animal! The way she fought Hashi doesn't come close to representing who she is as a fighter. What do you all think went on with the Hashi fight? Could they have found her better competition? I feel like she knew she had the win and she fought as such. Who can really blame her? Why risk an injury when you can just pick apart your opponent for 5 rounds and still come out the decisive winner? Did Strikeforce jump too quickly in offering a title fight to these women? Would they have been better off waiting until they found a better competitor to fight Kaufman? Is there another fighter who's better in that division? Let me know what you think.
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I think to some extent, styles make fights
Hashi is a vaunted grappler (really a pure grappler) and I don’t think Kaufman had many options to finish other than Ground and Pound from the top, and it’s clear she didn’t really want to go anywhere near the ground with Hashi. The problem was that she also wasn’t pressing for a KO on the feet.
On the other hand, Hashi relied a lot on her strikes and was clearly overmatched there. The problem for her is that she absolutely could not get or keep the fight on the ground when she needed to. This could be because she is a small F-Welter, or it could be that her takedowns aren’t that great.
I don’t think that’s all of it, but it does explain some of it.
My motto,
As I live and learn,
is:
Dig and Be Dug
In Return.
-Langston Hughes (no relation to Matt)
Given everything they new about her at the time? I don’t see why not. The list of people that are both available and more deserving is somewhat small. Kerry Vera would likely have been a much more entertaining fight, but she’s 2-0 in mma. Hashi, at least, was a veteran, ranked by the few people who do female rankings, and had beaten everyone she fought (she split with Hitomi Akano). Roxy is coming off a loss to Coenen (in a higher weight class), Kaufman had already beaten Baszler and Tate. I’m not sure what is up with Tara LaRosa. Given that, Hashi is a legit challenger.
Until she’s actually in the cage with Kaufman.
My motto,
As I live and learn,
is:
Dig and Be Dug
In Return.
-Langston Hughes (no relation to Matt)
no her take down attempts were pathetic.
i do blame sarah kaufman a little b/c after the third round she knew she was superior and just basically threw one punch at a time instead of going full blast. in her next fight they better put her against a striker b/c that is the s.k. i want to see. fists flying and gnp like in her previous fights. the guy below me says that hashi was trying to wear her down. that failed miserably and s.k gameplan was better. hashi’s coaches most have seen s.k. previous matches. in the three fights i saw her in she never got tired.
I'm all about covering the spread and moneylines. I was building a house, I don't deserve this, deserves have nothing to do with it. Bang. "Unforgiven" I drink your milkshake. I drink it up! "There Will BE Blood"
by wolfmanshowlforever on Mar 9, 2010 3:11 PM EST up reply actions
Expert in Women's MMA
Here is the deal with this fight, after consulting my other expert MarQ-news editor from fightergirls.com. We have come to the conclusion that Hashi was trying to wear down Kaufman which is a big thing over in Japan, well come to Hashi’s surprise Kaufman was prepared and prepared very well. Kaufman’s camp knew what Hashi wanted to do and in no way did they want to fall to Hashi’s game, Heck even between rounds her corner told her many times " Do not fall into her Game" and that’s what Kaufman did. Kaufman is not only a class fighter she is a fighter that has changed, she told us exclusively during an interview with us that she was going to be more of a technical fighter from now on and if the GNP comes up she will do get it done other than that Kaufman did what her corner said and did it flawlessly.
Yes we all know that Kaufman can put on a GNP show but this is for a world title and Kaufman knew that she didn’t want to lose the title chance playing into Hashi’s hands.
now with that in mind we are looking forward to the newly crowned #2 ranked female fighter Roxanne Modafferi to bring home the gold next and this is where Kaufman will have a real challenge on her hands.
Hey if need to learn more about women’s mma and want to know what these women are about stop by http://mysportsgeeks.com and check out our extensive list of interviews we have done with many of the fighters.
Thanks
SportsGeeks
haha
Even a broken clock is right two times a day.
by Chris Toffer on Mar 12, 2010 10:56 PM EST up reply actions
Did Hashi deserve the title fight...
thats a tough question. If you look at Strikeforce’s stable of 135’s- sure. I guess. I mean, if they wanted to be real sportsliek about this, they would have put her in the cage with a N american fighter who cuts the standard weight first. Coming into this it was pretty obvious Hashi was going to be outsized by enough that it wasn’t going to the floor, which was going to leave her helpless against Kaufman. I think they just expected Sarah to go in there and go for the kill, not go in there to win the title (which was her plans- no risks, point it out).
It was the same thing that Strikeforce did when putting Cyborg up against Hitomi Akano- except that time it went as planned with Cyborg mauling the poor undersized Akano and thus hyping up her next match with Carano.
All in all- a pretty bad matchup. I’m sad to hear Modafferi is the next opponent as well. It shows Strikeforce’s inability to mold women’s contenders and their inability to attract enough contenders from outside the organization to be the UFC of woman’s mma.
I hope they get this goin better….
Even a broken clock is right two times a day.
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