Monday, September 3, 2012

The Top Women Competing In Mixed Martial Arts

By Rod Bourgoine


Mixed martial arts, in fact, most martial arts in general, have always been dominated by men. While there are MMA fans who believe this is the way it should always be, there are many tough women competing in professional bouts who attack the sport with the same ferocity as the men. Beginning with the Carano-Maxwell fight in 2006, women have made their presence known and are not going to leave MMA anytime soon.

While several organizations promote women's fighting, Strikeforce arguably has been the top promoter of mainstream women's MMA. The Carano-Santos bout in 2009 drew in nearly a million viewers, so the women can definitely attract some attention from MMA fans.

Carano is certainly one of the top figures in women's MMA with an impressive record on 7 wins and 1 loss. She also has a solid kickboxing record, winning 12 of 14 bouts. Her only loss was against Cristiane Santos in 2009 and she has not fought since that bout.

Cristiane Santos is a terrifying presence in women's MMA with a record of 10 wins, one loss and one no contest. Born in Brazil, Santos trained at the Chute Boxe Academy before coming to the states and joining the team at The Arena in San Diego. Her last fight was in 2011 against Hiroko Yamananka. The fight was originally a TKO, but was changed to no contest after Santos failed a drug test and was suspended from competition. While she did appeal the conviction, she will not be eligible to fight until December, 2012.

While Ronda Rousey might not have the strong record of other top MMA women, she is definitely one of the sport's most entertaining competitors, both in and out of the arena. In addition to an undefeated record of five wins, she is the currently women's bantamweight champ after defeating Miesha Tate. She is also a two-time Olympian, competing in Judo and both the 2004 and 2008 games.

Despite her loss to Rousey, Miesha Tate holds an impressive 12-3 MMA record and is considered one of the best women in the sport. A former wrester who competed on her high school's boys wrestling team, she became interested in MMA during college. Before turning pro, she won five or her six amateur bouts.

Tara LaRosa is another notable MMA fighter, considered the best ever by many fans with 21 wins and two lost bouts. While she is clearly a strong competitor, she has not yet competed in Strikeforce due to her lighter weight. However, she has defeated some of the sport's toughest opponents, including Megumi Yabushita, Takayo Hashi and Shayna Baszler.




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