women's MMA

(Submission savant Megumi Fujii. Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

When "Carano vs. Cyborg" pulled in 856,000 viewers on Showtime, it proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that there could be a market for women's MMA outside of Japanese all-girl leagues and one-off fights in the U.S. Strikeforce and Bellator are both planning high-profile women's tournaments, and 2010 could be the year that women finally gain some measure of equality in the sport. In honor of the coming revolution, we've launched a top 5 women's pound-for-pound list in our Power Rankings section; get to know these warriors below, and let us know what you think.

*****

1: Megumi Fujii (18-0)
Armed with grappling credentials that include two BJJ championships at the Pan American Games and nine All-Japan Sambo titles, Fujii has tapped 15 of her 18 opponents during her five-year MMA career, and outpointed the other three. Her relentless, inventive ground attack is reminiscent of Kazushi Sakuraba in his prime, and at just 115 pounds, the 35-year-old packs more talent per ounce than any other woman in the world. In a sport where retiring undefeated is a mythical feat, Fujii just might pull it off.
Watch this: Fujii's "Alive" and "Hurt" highlight reels.

2: Tara LaRosa (17-1)

Though Gina Carano and Cris Cyborg draw more attention, hardcore fans know that Tara LaRosa is the most talented female fighter our country has to offer. The former women's bantamweight champ of BodogFight, LaRosa has run through a who's who of U.S. talent including Roxanne Modafferi, Amanda Buckner, Shayna Baszler, and Kelly Kobold. She hasn't lost since 2003, and she's finished her last seven fights by stoppage. The word is that she'll be competing next in a women's 125-pound tournament for Bellator; if that works out, get ready for a whole new batch of YouTube highlights.
Watch this: Tara LaRosa vs. Shayna Baszler

(Cristiane "Cris Cyborg" Santos tosses around her 200-pound husband during a Showtime photoshoot. Click all images for larger versions. Photos courtesy of sports.sho.com via Fightlinker.)

MMA Junkie passes along some details on the August 15th Strikeforce title fight between Gina Carano (7-0) and Cristiane "Cris Cyborg" Santos (7-1), informing us that the match is scheduled for five three-minute rounds, and will be contested at a weight of 145 pounds. So in other words, women can fight for 15 minutes just like the boys, as long as it's in the context of a blockbuster title fight. (Yay, equality!)

Of course, that "145" is the more troubling number when it comes to these two. Cyborg famously came in seven pounds over the 145-pound limit for her last fight against Hitomi Akano, while Carano's long history of scale fails include weighing in at 144.5 for a 140-pound fight against Kaitlin Young, and the infamous naked-behind-a-towel situation prior to her scrap with Kelly Kobold in October. While Cyborg blamed "woman problems" for missing weight, Carano probably should have been competing at 145 all along — though after a 10-month layoff, missing weight again is always a possibility. Good luck to both of these dangerous, water-retaining warriors.

"Carano vs. Cyborg" will be held at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California; tickets go on sale this Monday.

(Something tells me Cyborg is going to be played up as the villain in this one.)

After months of angling and negotiating, the highly anticipated bout between Gina Carano and Cristiane "Cris Cyborg" Santos has been set for the main event of Strikeforce's August 15th event in San Jose, as was announced during the broadcast of "Lawler vs. Shields." Now, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker has confirmed that the match will crown an official female champion for the organization:

(Kerry's muay thai fight in Thailand for the Oxygen network's "Fight Girls" show.  Check out Brandon being all supportive.  Awww.)

As we told you earlier, Kerry Vera, the wife of UFC fighter Brandon Vera, is making her MMA debut at tonight’s Bellator event.  We decided to find out if this is just some Kim Couture situation or if Vera is really serious about kicking ass and possibly even taking names.  Here’s how the conversation went.

This is your first MMA fight, but you’ve done some kickboxing in the past.  What made you decide to do MMA now?

I just wanted to do something more.  I figured, I’m probably not going to be fighting for too much longer so I wanted to try MMA and see what would happen.  It’s fun.  It’s a whole new challenge for me.

What do you know about your opponent?  I hear she’s undefeated.

I don’t know much.  I know she’s from Colorado (laughs).  That, and she’s had a few MMA fights.  That’s all I really know.

(Tate vs. Elaina Maxwell on her previous Strikeforce appearance.)

A few weeks ago Miesha Tate thought she’d be facing Kim Couture at the Strikeforce Challengers event on Showtime this Friday night.  But when Couture pulled out due to “personal reasons” and Tate posted a MySpace bulletin informing fans that “Sugar Free’s” impending divorce from former UFC champ Randy Couture was to blame, things got sticky in a hurry.  

Now instead of facing the 1-1 Couture, she’s facing the 8-0 (all by KO or TKO) Sarah Kaufman, and the fight has grown considerably in magnitude.  Here she talks about the change of opponents, her path to MMA, and what it’s like trying to make it as a female MMA fighter.

This seems like significant change in opponents, and on fairly late notice.  How did that affect your preparation for this fight and what the fight means for you?

It was kind of strange at first, the idea of going from Kim Couture to Sarah Kaufman.  Obviously it’s quite a jump.  I think I have a lot more to gain from this fight.  She’s a very tough and worthy opponent.  I have the opportunity to beat someone who has an established, undefeated record.

Do you think the only reason Kim Couture got this fight in the first place was because of her last name?