Shallow talent pool. Bad mismatches. General disinterest.
UFC President Dana White has referenced these reasons, among others, when asked about his lack of desire to promote female fights. In fact, he's gone on the record saying that women will "never" compete inside his Octagon.
Strikeforce's hexagon, meanwhile, is a different story. For now, anyway.
The fate of female mixed martial arts (MMA) was a major storyline in the wake of Zuffa's purchase of Strikeforce earlier this year. Girl fights were one of the few ways in which the San Jose, Calif.,-based promotion differentiated itself from sport's worldwide leader.
But, with White and Co. now at the helm -- and a merger between the two brands sometime in the future very likely -- it's entirely possible that a female division (no matter how robust) might not be included in the promotion's vision moving forward.
And with its most bankable star, Gina Carano, making big-budget movies and its best fighter, Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos, in contract limbo, the rest of the female field is left to fend for itself.
Miesha Tate, who fights Marloes Coenen this weekend in a 135-pound Striekforce title fight, recently labeled White as "uninformed" who simply "doesn't know enough about female MMA." She plans to use the opportunity to demonstrate to White -- and the rest of the world who watches -- that women's MMA is a viable commodity.
She hopes that an "impressive performance" will contribute toward him changing his mind and help prove what "women's MMA is all about." That's a fantastic idea in theory, but until she -- and the rest of the females in the sport -- can disprove White's three main concerns mentioned earlier, it's going to be an uphill fight.
Can they win it?
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