Women's Mixed Martial Arts

In Women's Mixed Martial Arts, there has been a growing awareness of women

Women have stepped out and proved themselves in every field and also in Women Mixed Martial Arts.  So how can MMA be left behind? There are many women fighters like Gina Carano, Megumi Fuji, Miesha Tate and many other personalities who are very popular. Their increasing popularity has led to increasing awareness of this sport. 

HISTORY OF WOMEN'S MMA

In the history of Women's MMA, Female competition has been documented since the 1990s in Japan.  The only major mixed martial arts all-female promotional competition was the Smack Girl Competition formed in 2001. It was influenced from kickboxing and female professional wrestling. There were many other successful female organizations of Japan promoting mixed martial arts among women. Also, there has been many competitions in U.S.A as well like International fighting championships, SuperBrawl, Rage in the Cage, King of the Cage etc. However,  the first recorded female competition was aired on March 28, 1997. After this, more coverage came from many organizations which invited women to compete. Female competitions were most likely found in minor local promotions outside U.S.A and Japan. Finally, women were included in UFC as well and the credit for women fighting in UFC solely goes to Ronda Rousey.

RULES FOR WOMEN IN MMA

Due to safety concerns, the rules for MMA has always been adjusted for female competitions. There are many competitions like ReMix in Japan, where the ground-and-pound was prohibited and a twenty seconds ground fighting time limit was featured. Later, the limit was extended to thirty seconds in Smackgirl. Finally, in 2008 the rule was abolished. The rule differed from men in terms of weight classification and weight limits as well. Also, chest and top protector is a must for women, while men are forbidden both. On the other hand, men must wear groin protector which is forbidden for women.

Some of the renowned women fighters in MMA are Ronda Rousey, Cat Zingano, Sarah Kaufman, Jessica Aguilar, Alexis Davis, Jessica Eye, Marloes Coenen etc.