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 WEC has been pretty interesting for the last few years with very good racing, particularly in the GTE class.

For open wheel racing, Indycar is where it's at these days IMO. Since they changed to the DW-12 chassis, lost the stupid blocking rules and brought in some new talent and sponsors, the racing has been fantastic. Unfortunately, I don't care for oval racing, but it looks like its weighing even more towards road and street courses next year.

I wouldn't want F1 to become a spec series, but they need to do something to either make the racing closer or the technology development more interesting. The WEC has been the most interesting development series lately. It's guaranteed that Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault would never allow it, but opening up the engine regulations to allow more freedom could bring in other manufacturers itching to show off their hybrid technology as something sexy and powerful.

The thumbnail image for this video has been updated - thumbnail added by oritteropo.

The thumbnail image for this video has been updated - thumbnail added by oritteropo.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'kick, anthony pettis, ben henderson, wec, mma' to 'kick, anthony pettis, ben henderson, wec, mma, showtime kick' - edited by xxovercastxx

Tags for this video have been changed from 'kick, pettis, mma' to 'kick, anthony pettis, ben henderson, wec, mma' - edited by xxovercastxx

I just want to fill in the context for those who are unaware to explain just how epic this is (SPOILERS, obviously):

This was the main event of the final WEC show, before the whole roster gets folded into the UFC. This fight was for the WEC Lightweight Championship - the winner getting an automatic shot at the UFC Lightweight (155lb) Champion (to be determined in January, 2011).

Through four rounds of this 5-round fight most people had the fight scored even at two rounds apiece, and it was shaping up to be a fight-of-the-year candidate. The fourth round itself was possibly the round-of-the-year with incredible back-and-forth action on the feet and on the mat.

As the fifth round played out, Anthony Pettis started taking control of the round, but with just under 90 seconds to go, this happens. Benson Henderson, who is legendarily difficult to submit or KO survived the following onslaught, but this shot effectively closed out the round, fight, show, year, organization.

Anthony 'Showtime' Pettis won the fight by unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 49-46).

edit: It's now called the 'Showtime' kick.

Side note: Anthony Pettis is also tangentially famous for being featured in the 'World of Jenks' show on MTV.

I miss Pride even with all it's head stomping douchery.

WEC is good cause their fights are more technical .

Lighter weight classes means a smaller portion are heavy handed.

Carlos Condit is on this card too. He's was a WEC badass that switched to UFC cause he's REEALLY good at beatin' people up.

Tho yeah, the only unorthodox fighters in the UFC are Lyoto Machida and Anderson Silva really.

Oh well, UFC became all about the revenue as soon as Dana White took over.
You can't really expect a whole lot after that.. = p

I guess I wish there was more judo in MMA in general. That's rather fun to watch. =]