EliteXC and women, wrong move?

I'm still thinking about Saturday's EliteXC fights and how much I enjoyed them. So much more so than previous event on CBS. But is EliteXC hurting themselves by including the female fighters in their shows? In other words, there's lots of dedicated fans here on MMAPG that don't even like watching women in MMA, why would they risk turning off new fans who are less accustomed to seeing women fighting?

Nice shot by Esther Lin:


edit: Damn...link isn't working....
http://www.combatlifestyle.com/pics/albums/072608baszlersantos/1011.jpg

FYI: May not be a work-safe pic. But a very good one. (Copy & paste seems to work for the image)

I don't think it's a bad thing, they also have to think business here. Advertisers on TV want you to put on stuff that will attract the 18-49 crowd, obviously do something to bring men in so they'll watch more, see ads, spend more, and so on. The only thing that really hurt them in that regard Saturday is Gina not being able to fight since she's the top draw. I still say give the women time and don't give up on them, of course it'll take them longer to be "accepted" in MMA (not just EXC) but they're slowly but surely getting there.

For the record, I want to see the female fighters...I thought the Santos fight was great. I just question whether, to mainstream MMA fans, that's a big turn off...as in they're not ready to see it yet?


"oh my God...she's going to kill me!"

I don't know whether or not EliteXC has made the right business decision marketing women fighters, but I doubt it's impacting their bottom line, one way or the other. I doubt anyone who wanted to see the men's matches avoided them because they might accidentally catch a glimpse of a woman with a bloody nose.

As for whether or not MMA fans are "ready" for women fighters, they're not going to become ready by not airing the fights.

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Posted by scoozna

I'm still thinking about Saturday's EliteXC fights and how much I enjoyed them. So much more so than previous event on CBS. But is EliteXC hurting themselves by including the female fighters in their shows? In other words, there's lots of dedicated fans here on MMAPG that don't even like watching women in MMA, why would they risk turning off new fans who are less accustomed to seeing women fighting?

Nice shot by Esther Lin:


edit: Damn...link isn't working....
http://www.combatlifestyle.com/pics/albums/072608baszlersantos/1011.jpg

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Is you don't like Women fight you haven't seen the same fight as me. I think that so far they are really entertaining and the a lot less of lnp fighter. You should rewatch so fights maybe it will change your mind. And how come people here doesn't like women fight?

womans mma is cool
they always bust there ass out there and have good fights, i have yet to see a woman run like Kalib

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Posted by holt8081

womans mma is cool
they always bust there ass out there and have good fights, i have yet to see a woman run like Kalib

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Good point about Kalib...as badly as Kim Couture had her face beat in (broken jaw in 2 places) she did her best.

Anybody else notice cyborg's foot is twisting the wrong way in the picture from the original post.

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Posted by Pookie

Anybody else notice cyborg's foot is twisting the wrong way in the picture from the original post.

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yeah I saw that. looks painful.

To me, as long as the fight is fair, fast and tactical, it dosnt matter if the fighters are polar bears. The thing is, most woman mma fans are there for the chicks.

If it wasn't for EliteXC I would probably be 100% anti-women's MMA right now. I never brought myself to watch it before the Elite XC shows. After seeing how hard they throw-down though I am willing to watch it. Would I ever pay to see a full women's MMA event? Not sure on that one just yet.

I also wonder if regular (men's) MMA would be more exciting if they guys knew they only had 3 minutes in a round to get their job done. How different do you think that men's MMA would be if the standard match was 5x3 minute rounds instead of 3x5 minute rounds? On the same note, seasoned MMA fans would want to make sure that a fighter has every chance in the world to make things work which requires time, especially in the ground game. Shortening the rounds (from my point of view) makes things more akin to a tough-man contest than mixed martial arts, with an emphasis on ARTS. These ARE skills that take time to develop and hone to a fine point in order to execute under the highest pressures of the limelight.

Real world fights don't have rounds, breaks, and stand-ups, so from that point of view the Pride rules with a 10 minute first round were probably the closest to realistic. I can't think of any informal fight I've ever been in or witnessed that lasted more than a couple moments.

Women's MMA will not be excepted until they get enough exposure for those who who don't like to see women beating on each other to get over it or at least get used to it. They'll never win over the meathead sexists out there but the more people are exposed to it the sooner it'll be accepted. What EXC is doing wrong in demeaning the women's abilities to amautuer hour with 3 min. Rnds. I realize they're trying to get female mma accepted by making these girls exciting. Only signing strikers is one thing but the 3 min Rnds; however exciting, is worse for them than it is good. Makes them seem unprofessional just like Carano being their foundation and not making weight.

Not a bad move but a bit early if you ask me. On top of that I personaly was pissed to miss Eilers/Bigfoot Silva, to watch Cris Cyborg absolutly maul this other girl.

cant hardly argue that the female fights are usually pretty good and exciting

I like that Elite XC is experimenting with the female division. Really, there one of the only orgs out there right now who are doing it (except maybe strike force and the fights are usually pretty good. I say, keep um coming.