Big Money or Funny Money: Why The Idea Of A Rousey-Tate "Mega-Fight" Is A Joke

By Michael Ford

Don’t believe the hype: Rousey-Tate isn’t the “money fight” that commentators claim it to be, just because attractive fighters would be involved.

Here’s a fun little experiment: Ask an MMA fan who his favorite fighter is, then ask him whether he thinks that fighter is hot.

As an encore, ask about his favorite fight, then ask whether he thinks both the fighters involved are hot. If that seems absurd, then consider the conventional wisdom, which is that “women’s MMA” needs hot fighters to become more popular.The recent controversy between Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate has pushed the Strikeforce 135-pound “women’s bantamweight” division to the forefront, whereas before, the 145-pound “women’s featherweight” division was thought to be the marquee division for women in the sport. Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos and Gina Carano were major stars in both the EliteXC and Strikeforce promotions, and it was thought that if the UFC, the promotion synonymous with American MMA, was to ever feature fights involving women, one or both of those fighters would be involved.

Yet since Rousey’s emergence on the MMA scene, her brash attitude, combined with her striking appearance, has captured the attention of MMA fans whose interest in women in or around the cage started and ended with UFC ring card girls. She was originally touted as a possible contender to Cyborg’s title, but has recently stated an intention to compete in the deeper and more competitive bantamweight division, and seeks to leapfrog current top contender Sarah Kaufman based on the notion that a fight between her and Tate would mean more to MMA fans, and be a “bigger fight.”

But bigger how? Kaufman is obviously more credible to MMA fans, and while she isn’t known for finishing her opponents, she possesses a degree of striking acumen that is highly touted and quite dangerous. Indeed, it was on the strength of that striking that Kaufman was able to achieve the win that she currently holds over the current champion. From the standpoint of raw materials to promote a title fight, the ingredients are there: a storyline, a clear conflict of styles, talented and accomplished fighters, established and well-known names, and well-spoken, articulate individuals who are willing to do press to convey the stakes and importance of the contest. Admittedly, the fight is no “grudge match,” but who knows what emotions could be stirred by talk of how the previous win by Kaufman is or isn’t an indicator of what could happen in the future?

In contrast, the “hook” for Tate vs. Rousey seems to be, “Rousey has run through overmatched opposition and called out the champ. They’re both pretty hot, so their fight should be awesome!” Presumably, these fans and commentators will be looking to the event poster and weigh-in photos to satisfy latent pre-adolescent male fantasies. One can only wonder if they will insist that the fighters be as scantily clad as possible, and that greasing restrictions be relaxed so that hot oil could “enhance” the fight. Instead of a battle to crown the top bantamweight female fighter in the world through violent conflict, these commentators posit that MMA fans would prefer that Zuffa and Strikeforce promote “hot girl on girl action.”

So again, the question needs to be posed: Is the upcoming Urijah Faber vs. Dominick Cruz contest “hot guy on guy action?” Will this be a battle of Faber’s boyish good looks, bright smile, and “OMG! Dimples!” vs. Cruz’s hot Latin flava, bedroom eyes and roguish charm? Will we be tuning in to see the sweat glistening off their muscled flesh, while they grapple intensely, in attempts to achieve dominant positions over each other, and possibly pound each other out?

The critics of MMA are infamous for asserting that the sport is something akin to homosexual titillation. However, who can blame them when its own fans are thought to be primarily motivated by their notions of hotness when it comes to women’s fights? Putting together Maesha Tate vs. Ronda Rousey because they are both attractive doesn’t advance the cause of women’s MMA in the slightest; it in fact degrades it in a deep and pernicious way — its divisions, its fighters, and its fans are all degraded.

Every sport that features women competing grapples with this reality, that there are male fans who don’t respect the athletic accomplishments of girls or women unless they are accompanied by attractive faces and “feminine” features, which themselves are code for European standards of beauty. As such, there is always a temptation to sell sex over sport to appeal to the sexist sensibilities of macho sports fans. And it is always a short-sighted strategy, because the truth is, there are hot women everywhere, and watching sports for hot girls is like going to the movies because you like popcorn. Yes, a variety of factors can influence the specifics of sports fandom, and looks might be one of those factors. However, looks will not determine whether people follow the sport in the first place.

Furthermore, the issue that has plagued the women’s divisions in MMA is depth. As the UFC has grown in popularity, the lure of the sport for young athletes has expanded. High school, college, and Olympic wrestlers have looked to MMA as a way to continue their competitive careers, and earn a decent living. As the payscales increase, and “a decent living” turns into “a fortune,” the ability of the sport to attract even more world-class athletes increases. These athletes aren’t self-selecting based on how marketable they think theymight be, but how good they might be at winning fights, at dishing out and enduring punishment, employing technique, developing their stamina, and evolving into well-rounded professional fighters. If we want to see talented, skilled, athletic women flock to the sport, we can’t erect big neon signs that say that MMA fans are more interested in ogling female fighters than paying attention to the action that transpires in the cage. MMA’s version of the Williams Sisters might pass on entering the sport because of the notion that if they don’t pander to the inner prepubescent boy of the average MMA fan, they might see barriers placed in their paths as they progress through the sport.

You don’t have to be a fan of the women’s divisions to acknowledge that the principles of the sport shouldn’t be made a mockery of, simply because the competitors are female. The top aspiration of so many fighters, male or female, is to be the best in the world, and the struggle to reach that pinnacle, of honing talent and making sacrifices, should not be subordinated to considerations of “hot or not.” Nor should that attitude be tolerated and catered to. If the survival of women’s professional fighting at the highest levels depends on titillating the fanbase, rather than putting the best fighters in the cage together, then MMA really is more spectacle than sport. And if you’re an MMA fan who honestly couldn’t care less about watching women fight, but would care if those women were more attractive, then shame on you.

Zuffa executives Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta made headlines a few months ago when they asserted that between 40 and 50 percent of the UFC’s fanbase is female. If this is the case, then the conventional wisdom, which is that the 18-34 year old male demographic needs to be coveted and catered to at all costs, is misguided. As Zuffa continues to push the UFC brand into the mainstream, other misguided notions about the MMA aesthetic need to be rooted out and repudiated. One of these is that marketing to the lowest common denominator is the way to pique the interest of casual MMA fans. If you consider yourself a fan of women’s MMA, you can’t endorse the practice of making attractiveness the primary determinant of who gets title shots. You can’t support the idea that a deserving contender and former champion should step aside for an unproven competitor, simply because she doesn’t possess pinup looks. And you can’t cultivate respect for the sport and its athletes by saying that the fans want to see pretty faces more than world-class fighters squaring off.

At some point in the future, we may yet see Ronda Rousey square off against Miesha Tate. She has shown a lot of promise, and if she runs through fighters at 135 like she has at 145, or if she takes out an established contender or two, MMA fans will recognize her as a credible championship contender, and her looks will be a small part of the package of marketability, rather than the bulk of it. But right now, she isn’t there, and making a fight between the two reeks of desperation. Zuffa’s willingness to drain Strikeforce of its marketable assets is well-documented, and making this fight both prematurely and unjustifiably would be another step towards putting the nail in the company’s coffin, as it would turn the promotion’s crown jewel into something illegitimate. Tate-Rousey is far from a “money fight.” In fact, it’s a fight that would set the company, and the division, back a few years.