Sarah D’Alelio handled herself with a lot of class after her controversial loss to “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey during friday nights Strikeforce Challengers series.
Once upon a time, there weren't enough lightweights to form a real division in the UFC therefore, the UFC stopped having a lightweight division for a while. Of course, Dana White finds lightweight fights interesting, so he made sure that people knew a lightweight division would come back to the UFC. The fifth season of The Ultimate Fighter aimed at bringing in enough lightweights that a division could be formed.
Right now Dana White claims that there aren't enough women to form a division in the UFC. I see a roster of talented women fighting at 135Ibs in other promotions and their fights are incredibly entertaining to watch. The problem is, none of the fighters are that well known by casual fans however, airing a season of The Ultimate Fighter with popular coaches would change that in a heartbeat. The coaches wouldn't need to be women, in fact it would be better if they were established UFC fighters (The Ultimate Fighter always tries to have well known rivals as coaches. This would draw viewers in who wouldn't necessarily be familiar with the female contestants), so male by definition. It would be interesting and the house dynamics would possibly be very different from what we are used to seeing (would we still get the inevitable drunken house destruction? I'm not sure).
It's time for an all female season of the The Ultimate Fighter and don't call it Ms. Ultimate Fighter or The Ultimate Femme Fighter, just call it The Ultimate Fighter: The Women.
No, I'm not talking about Hockey. I have to confess, I don't understand Hockey at all. It's cold, there are people skating, they all chase a little thing around the rink using sticks. No, I'm talking about the slightly less violent sport of Mixed Martial Arts, specifically the 135 pound women's Strikeforce title.
As a Canadian I am obligated to like GSP and Sarah Kaufman, and I do, so I was glad that Kaufman took the belt last night in what is being described as an extremely unexciting fight. I also think that Strikeforce is really missing an opportunity to take on Dana White in a realm that Dana can't win. Last night was part of the challenger series, which is normally for up and coming fighters. Kaufman is 10 and 0, fighting an opponent who was 12 and 1. This is hardly a challenger series fight, and should have been hyped. Women's MMA is something that a lot of people are interested in, but don't get much opportunity to see (since the UFC is the biggest name and it doesn't have any women in the ring, just walking around outside of it in bikini's). Now, Strikeforce could make a big deal of the women it has, especially when it's a championship fight, or they could stick it on showtime (with a very small audience base) and promote it as little as possible. The only reason I see them choosing the latter (which is what they went with) is that they think Kaufman is going to pretty much dominate the division, and don't want to hype it up too much. Maybe they want to keep focus on Cris Santos, I don't know. Maybe they just aren't that comfortable being the centre of attention and want to stay in their comfort zone on the periphery. Whatever the cause, Kerry Vera is a likely future opponent, and that is a fight I would love to see, no matter how buried it ends up being.
The only real question left is can anyone challenge Chris "Cyborg" Santos for the 145 lb belt.
Cyborg fought Coenen over the weekend and finished her off in the third round answering any questions about her Cardio (from what I saw, I don't think she was even breathing all that hard). In the first round it was obvious that Cyborg was ahead, but Coenen had a pretty decent showing, trying for submissions whenever she was on the ground and answering shots with shots, although a few less of them. The real difference seemed to be Cyborg's ability to take her to the mat at will. By round two, it wasn't close anymore. I think Coenen had just taken a few to many shots to the head by then, but she just wasn't as crisp, as active on the ground, as good at answering shots. She had a brief rally in round three and caught Cyborg with a wicked left, but Cyborg didn't even seem to be phased by the shot. In the end, Cyborg's ability to take Coenen to the ground was decisive.
The problem is, who is strong enough to take on Cyborg at this point? Erin Toughil is the next opponent lined up, and she's strong, but I don't think she's strong enough. I really don't know if anyone in the sport right now is.
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Once upon a time, there weren't enough lightweights to form a real division in the UFC therefore, the UFC stopped having a lightweight division for a while. Of course, Dana White finds lightweight fights interesting, so he made sure that people knew a lightweight division would come back to the UFC. The fifth season of The Ultimate Fighter aimed at bringing in enough lightweights that a division could be formed.
