Women’s Cage Fighting, World Number One Rosi Sexton is Cambridge graduate
Cage fighting or Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is a brutal sport. Repeated punches to the face, kicks to the head and knockouts are a common feature of the sport. The sport used to be the sole domain of men, but recently women have started to make their mark on the world of cage fighting. The interesting aspect of this is the fact that throughout history, women were never seen fighting or boxing but in time with the rise of the equality movement and women’s rights, more women have started to be featured in brutal sports. The reasons for why women get into cage fighting are very interesting.
Women’s cage fighting or MMA started to take off in 2000. Before that bouts were held but nothing was organised and the whole affair was not very serious. The sport slowly started to grow and more women got into the arena and it started to gain fans and become popular. It still has a lack of quality fighters but that is changing.
The issue with women in mixed martial arts is that because they are so few women fighters, organisers of fights have issues meeting the weight class requirements for the fighters. Even a five kg discrepancy in weight can make a big difference in the outcome and style of the fight. Weight divisions were placed in the sport as a safety measure because it becomes unfair if one fighter is very small while the other is very large and dominates the fight.
Recently an article surfaced which talked about one woman’s journey into experiencing what the world of mixed martial arts is all about. A lot of women are reluctant to get into the sport because of the perceived sexism that surrounds the sport. Every fight has scantily clad ring girls who parade around telling fans that the round has ended and the next round is about to begin. With this kind of an image it puts a lot of women off from taking part in a growing sport. The reason for having these ring girls is that they are said to entice new spectators who have never been to a fight before. But ring girls aside the other big problem is that women do not seem to posses the right level of aggression needed to compete in a MMA fight. One in maybe 100 women have the right sort of aggressive nature to enter a ring and pound the life out of someone else.
The trend of women cage fighters is on the rise though with one of the world’s foremost female fighters becoming the recent subject of a BBC documentary. She is 32-year old mother of one, and the current women’s World number one in the bantamweight division, Rosi Sexton. What is so odd about Rosi is the fact that she throws every female fighter stereotype out the window. She is a Cambridge graduate with a First-class maths degree, a PhD and has a four-year-old son, apart from being a top ranked MMA fighter. This is why she is so strange, no one would consider a Cambridge graduate to be a cage fighter, because people think they are too smart to beat up other people. The reason she takes part in this sport is because she finds it the most technical sport in the world and a great insight into human technology. She seems to be studying the sport while taking part in it.
The sport of female cage fighting is very popular in Japan, where there are several organisations that routinely put on fights. The rise of female cage fighting in Japan has been due to popular fighters such as Megumi Fujii, who take part in events and have fans all over the world. She along with other women fighters have helped bring the sport to the limelight in Japan and now slowly the whole world. More women are needed that can become role models for the sport and encourage girls to take part in this growing and extremely tough sport.
There are many reasons why women take part in cage fighting. They find the competitive nature of the sport fascinating, they are attracted to the aggressive nature of the fighting, they want to prove to themselves and others that they can make it and because they find it a great way to stay in shape. More women should come forward and take part in the sport or even just give it a try; if they like it then that will be great but if not they can continue with their lives. The sport has become much safer in recent years and is crying out for women to join the ranks of fighting legends.
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