I like your point a lot and totally agree with it. If they add a sister championship class, it'd be great to see the existing one renamed. So although their action of adding women as pseudo-equals is great, they obviously aren't stomping their feet to promote equality. "Look, we renamed it to 'MEN's bantamweight champion' aren't we great and progressive!"

It's definitely like @GenjiKilpatrick says, that it's business driven, but my reply to that is: so what? To me that's kind of a huge part of the point.

The WNBA, WPGA, etc. exist as separate organizations probably in large part because they carry on different advertising relationships and get different television airing days/times and different venues, etc.

To me it's a pretty big deal that the UFC's business is relying on the fact that women competitors can just be thrown right into the same pay-per-views, advertising, venues, etc. as the men. That they can do that and that they do do that means they aren't second-class fighters and they are as good as the men in generating business.

Because.. it is trivial. (not to rag on your very sweet comment tho)

In effect, the gender segregation is still present and will be for quite while.

Not to mention, UFC President Dana White's long-standing assertion that "Women will never fight in the UFC. Those types of fights aren't interesting enough".

So yeah, the decision to include women in bantam/lightweight divisions is purely business driven.


The UFC first gained Bantum & Light divisions when they absorbed the WEC in 2010/11.

This was part of Zuffa, UFC's parent company, consolidating their assets following the decline of MMA's popularity. 2005/06

So essentially; Dana & Zuffa realized the easiest way re-ignite interest in the UFC was to include female fighters on the same card.

The alternative being:
Create a separate "Women's UFC" franchise with all the low-draw problems from before + the notorious low-draw attached to women's franchises i.e. - WNBA, LPGA, etc.

Any groundbreaking policies here are purely PR benefits for a company struggling to stay relevant. And moreover, solvent.


So yeah, UFC isn't all-of-a-sudden concerned for the plight of women fighters..

It's just another gimmick to sell seats/PPV.

The WNBA would be far more popular if they did it this way.

My favorites:

are you a milf? how much do you weigh? who is your favorite wnba player? is it weird to be out of the kitchen? Can i tell you what to do with your body? wouldn't it be easier to wear a burqa? Do you 'Ho' it up? Can you make me a sandwich? can you name your vibrator after me?

I've already pre-ordered "WNBA Season Pass" from my friendly cable provider, I can't wait!

In related news, I've also bought cases of Mountain Dew to help stay awake.