Gabi Garcia’s Gi Competition Dilemma

 

Black belt Gabi Garcia recently reported that she was going to move away from competition in the gi and focus more one tournaments such as ADCC and her MMA career. According to Garcia (and totally borrowed from Megan at Tangled Triangle):

“I want to fight MMA now. I don’t know when I will fight on a GI again. I’m unmotivated, not because I think I’m invincible, but we need to find another challenge. Many people is not fighting the absolute class, focusing on the weight classes, and I need another goal in life. If I am able to get down my weight, and if UFC or other events begin to have bigger weight classes, I will get down my weight as much as possible. Now I am going to train to defend my title in the ADCC.”

While I can’t really blame her, there are a whole lot of “if’s” in that remark and I do question the possible jump to MMA, especially in the near future. Yes, fight organizations such as the UFC and Invicta are beginning to include women’s divisions, but even if/when she goes into MMA, her opportunities to fight at the moment (and I feel for a while) will be limited at best. Let’s be blunt, Gabi’s a whole lotta woman- at 6’2, and reportedly about 235lbs, she’s really in a size and weight class all her own, male or female. Her chances of finding competition that can come close in size are very slim. Personally I think her chances of competing are better in ADCC, where due to their weight and skill criteria for women, and she probably has more people potentially her size to compete against, even if they are at a lower belt/skill level. I also think she shouldn’t give up just yet on gi tournaments- more women are becoming black belts, and they are coming up in all shapes and sizes, and so hopefully sooner rather than later she will have some new competition to go against. Again though, we’re depending on a very big “if”, which can be frustrating.

Also, personally I think it would be interesting to see Gabi compete against MMA fighter Cris Cyborg. Cyborg is a brown belt, but I also think she would give Gabi the fight she has been looking for in these different competitions. That’s just my personal opinion.

What do you guys think? Should she pack the gi away? Will she have the competition she is looking for in MMA? Or do you think there are just too many unknown variables and there’s really no way of predicting what will happen? Let me know!

Working on the Back-End

I’m in the middle of fiddling with the back-end of the new blog I am putting together, so today’s post will be pretty brief:

The “big news” yesterday was that one of the female Strikeforce fighters, Liz Carmouche is openly gay. Not to sound harsh and unfeeling, but…so?

What gender you choose to create a fulfilling, substantial partnership with in life I feel has little to no effect on your performance in the cage. Rather, it is the personality of the partner, regardless of gender, that affects performance. Men and women both can either support a fighter, understanding the passion their partner has for getting into the ring. This also goes the other way: I am sure there are a number of men AND women who have held back a fighter because they were not comfortable with the role of the “gym widow”, and of course seeing their partner getting punched in the face.

I am happy for Carmouche, who has stated that MMA has made her feel accepted and I would never want to take that from anyone. But, I feel this was made into a bigger story than needed. Actually, I find it more interesting she is on Team Hurricane Awesome.

That’s a pretty sweet name for a team.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday 6.15.11

Read it!

 

Today’s wordless Wednesday image is a screenshot of the Girls Guide to MMA, and an insightful article I think should be read by everyone, about what I would hope to write if I didn’t just fly by the seat of my pants when blogging.

Go, read, now!

 

 

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday, 5.18.11

Check this site out, which was referred by someone on the Twitter:

Shawn Tamaribuchi’s Female Fighter Project. I’m sorry, I don’t have that much time to write today, but at a quick glance, the photos are well done and look interesting.

Check it out!

One of the images from the Female Fighter Project

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday, 5.4.11

So on the website Gal’s Guide to MMA, they have on one of their recent posts a random awesome fight with Roxanne ‘Roxy’ Modafferi and Jennifer Howe. They also have an interview on the site with Modafferi, who is an ESL teacher in Japan by day, superhero MMA fighter by night.  She also has a Twitter and a blog you should check out. What’s crazy is she totally looks like the doppelganger of my friend Gina

Anyway, enough talking, here are photos of Roxy doing her fighter thing!

 

 

See, women can be just as badass as the fellas! 

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday, Take 2!

(I pulled this pic from a website called Campus Socialite)

I know I am ridiculously late to the party for commenting on this, but I wanted to quickly add my 2 cents.

I am both happy for Strikeforce and immensely worried: happy due to increased exposure, and all the benefits that come with being associated with UFC. Average Middle American may not know Strikeforce, but lauds UFC-right up there with the WWE.

I am immensely worried that UFC will just eventually swallow Strikeforce once their Showtime obligations are met, and not before they spit out the women’s division.

::shrug:: Only time will tell, I guess.

 

The Feminine Mystique of Exercise and Sport

I have briefly mentioned it here before, and have talked about elements of the subject, but I do not feel that being involved in Jiu Jitsu or Judo make me any less feminine, and I wanted to expand on that:

I have to admit I have never read The Feminine Mystique, and checked Wikipedia briefly for the gist of what the hell the book is about. Kind of depressing, actually, and I feel in some ways to the women of today and sports. I feel like is lessening, but there is a little bit of a stigma attached to women who are heavily involved with a sport, especially one that is full contact which can make a woman feel out of place with her peers. It’s supposed to be this routine: go to the gym, don’t use weights, and god-forbid you sweat more than is appropriate. Just run on the treadmill until your legs fall off: that’s enough, right? That or something else highly cardio based, like Zumba or whatever. I’m not saying women are having an identity crisis due to this, but no one likes to feel like the odd man out.

I have no problem with people who want to focus on their cardio, but that’s really not what I’m into and that also should be respected: first of all, I’m terrible at choreographed moves usually, and secondly I love solving puzzles and trying different things. These together make Jiu Jitsu and Judo a fantastic fit for me. And somehow by the grace of the Powers That Be I don’t hurt anyone in kettlebell class.

I think when it comes to the more intense, full contact sports, some women either downplay their femininity, or underline and highlight it with bold colors, but both are essentially attempting to convey the same message, “being a woman does not hinder my ability on the mat or in the ring,” and I agree. What should be respected additionally is that is also not the end all, be all of their personality. Yes, I grapple, and I do appreciate a pretty pair of shoes. Yes, I roll around the floor for a couple of hours and get sweaty and gross, but I also like putting on a little makeup, a nice dress and having a night out. And I (for the most part) feel like a well rounded person for it.

Anyway, those are my thoughts on the subject. I’m hoping as sports such as Jiu Jitsu grow in popularity among women this will become less and less of an issue, and we can all sit back and laugh while drinking brandy…or something. 😉

A Crazy Idea

I don’t think this will ever work, but lately I have been listening and watching some MMA shows, causing me to reminisce about when I had a radio show in college, and I kind of miss it actually. It was a show late at night and very few people listened to it, but it actually had some good content, and we busted our butts to produce the show.  Anyway, the point being I think it would be fun to jump back in the saddle and do a MMA radio show.

Granted, the market is getting saturated and it’s getting to a point where saying you want to do a MMA show is like telling your friends you’re moving to California to become a “model/actor” but I think it would be fun to do. Radio’s a fun gig, telling a story and involving an audience without any visuals is a challenge, but can also be enjoyable and in the end rewarding.

Just a crazy idea of mine that I probably won’t pursue unless someone else is down to do it with me, but hey, you never know.

Hey, and check out the GracieMag article on the Women’s Open Mat that happened in Arizona: sounds like it was a fun day for those ladies 🙂

…And I Knit, Too!

Lex pointed out an observation on his blog, about how people ask him what he does, and in response he just tells them that he wrestles. I can understand that, I have mentioned I do jiu jitsu and judo to people, and sometimes people seem genuinely interested, asking if it involves striking, and then are surprised when I mention that no, it’s more grappling and wrestling, that sort of thing. People usually nod politely or go, “Oh, that’s cool.”

And then there’s another kind of response: an awkward silence that happens when I mention I do BJJ and Judo. This is kind of worse in some ways, because then there’s an awkward tension in the air, like people expect me to start rattling off tournament stats, or how I like to clean my extensive gun and knife collection at night. Or better yet, that I will suddenly feel the need to demonstrate my skills and will pull some unsuspecting victim towards me and put them into some deadly choke.

I am sorry, but none of these scenarios will actually happen. So how do I break the tension? If I start to feel that tension build in the room, I tend to add,

“And I knit, too!”

That usually does the trick, occasionally I’ll substitute “knit” with “bake cookies” . I find it amusing and a little sad: I don’t feel like jiu jitsu detracts from being feminine or just another person.

Yes, I train. Yes, I am female and I grapple. But I’m still a reasonable (nice, even!) human being

So

New Generation of Women’s MMA Fighters

So while I’m sure everyone would be thrilled to read about how I was so tired yesterday that I could barely see straight, and so went straight to bed; however I want to share this article I found on Gal’s Guide to MMA on the New Generation of Women’s MMA fighters. It sounds like things are going to get exciting on the women’s end of the MMA world. Kung Fu, Jodokas and 5’11” women, oh my!

Check it out!