In 2009, Gina Carano and Chris “Cyborg” Santos became the first women to compete in the main event of a major (and televised) MMA event during the August 15th Strikeforce show in San Jose, California. Major MMA organizations, including the Ultimate Fighting Championship and Pride Fighting Championship, had been operating for 16 and 12 years respectively at the time of the Carano vs. Cyborg fight. Meanwhile, in the Brazilian Jiu-jitsu community, women such as Kyra Gracie have recently taken the grappling and MMA world by storm by not only receiving her black belt and multiple world titles, but also with her beauty and charm. It has been almost 20 years since Brazilian jiu-jitsu came to international attention.

Brazilain Jiu-Jitsu and mixed martial arts are sports that are ruled by men. Most gyms in the United States have only a handful of women that train, especially when the gym is not located in a larger urban area. However, as jiu-jitsu and mixed martial arts become more popular, thanks to fight organizations like the UFC and cable television shows featuring MMA, more women are becoming involved in the sport and understanding the benefits.

Jiu-jitsu is an art created for a smaller fighter to defend themselves against a bigger opponent. It is an art that focuses on technique, manipulating balance, and leverage, rather than strength and size. This fact alone makes jiu-jitsu a fantastic martial art for women to practice for both sport and self-defense. With good training, a woman can defeat the inequalities of size and upper body strength between men and women in a fight, especially against an untrained attacker.

In self-defense situations, jiu-jitsu and MMA are fundamentally suited to helping women get out of dangerous situations on the ground, allowing them to not only block incoming strikes, but also prevent sexual assault by moving, striking back, and submitting their opponent on the ground. Every women’s self-defense course should incorporate the ground techniques employed in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and MMA.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu St Louis and MMA can also be fantastic ways for a woman to stay in shape. These sports demand a person to gain and maintain cardiovascular endurance for rounds of fighting, static all-over body strength to hold positions and control opponents, and dynamic strength to push, pull, punch, kick, wrestle, and sweep. Many people serious about jiu-jitsu and MMA end up cross-training with additional exercises such as running, yoga, and weight-lifting.

Brazilian Jujitsu and MMA can also be great emotionally. To prevail in these sports, it takes determination, endurance, and perseverance over mental and physical failures. These sports can bring a great sense of pride and accomplishment. Additionally, the intensity of the sport creates friendships and bonds between people at the gym; many people gain a second family.

So why has it taken so long for women to start participating in these sports? And, why has it taken so much time for women to get the same respect as men in the sport? For many women, it is very frightening to walk into a male-dominated gym and try to compete. In addition, Brazilian Jujitsu and MMA are sports with very close contact both standing and on the ground. Some women are uncomfortable with close contact on the ground with men and are afraid of being in positions that could be viewed as sexual. Other women are not comfortable with striking or getting hit. However, women who have joined the sport will affirm that in most gyms, people are great teammates and are willing to help you. The sport is not sexual in nature at all, just as high-school wrestling is not sexual. Good gyms do not tolerate harassment of women.

Women still do not get the same respect as men in these sports, especially in MMA because they are perceived as not being able to keep up with with men. In some ways this is true: A woman will generally not have the same upper body strength and dynamic strength of a man of the same weight and experience and, therefore, will not generally be dominant. However, it should be remembered that every other sport is also categorized by skill and/or weight and gender. Sports change when the physical and mental state of the competitors change. Strategies need to be different, training needs to be different, and the final product ends up being different. Hopefully in the near future, people will realize that, although maybe a little different, women’s jiu-jitsu and MMA are valuable and exciting when the competitors are of high quality and training.

We continue our series of great sporting moments with what is perhaps one of the best KO’s in MMA history. Saturday saw UFC 100 and a huge grudge match between the UK’s Michael Bisping and the US’s Dan Henderson. Normally in this situation we’d back the UK fighter all the way but (to be honest) Bisping had been running his mouth something stupid. Here’s the pre fight interview with Bisping:-

Take special notice of the talk of a big right hand and how he’ll just be too quick for it. Hmm. And here we have what actually happened in the fight.

Bisping got his face smashed by an awesome right hand, total KO! So the punch afterwards wasn’t really needed but when you’ve got 2 guys that really don’t like each other then there’s always going to be some “niggle”. All in all an awesome knockout and probably my favourite in UFC MMA history to date.

UFC 100 Henderson vs Bisping KO