Thanks for the YouTube videos. I've become a bit more interested in these lately, but only to a certain extent.
I see more and more of these MMA events being held overseas than in the USA, but it appears the USA is playin' catch-up.
I remember back on Barb's boards and elsewhere and other Y! Groups Helen of Virago mentioned how hard she worked to gain the honor of being--what was it ?--a seventh-degree black belt ? (or something like that) in MMA advancement. (What a woman !!!) I can't even guess the amount of commitment it must take to get that proficient in any form of MMA. I just congratulate her big-time and the other women who find the time and do it.
I saw the Carano/Kedsie fight when it was on Showtime. Quite good, as the girls showed excellent skills. And the audience seemed to love it. I'm not sure how much effort EliteXC is going to put into the girls as last month was supposed to feature Carano again but she was injured, so they had no women's fight at all. Also, last night's show was without a women's bout either.
There was a pretty good reality show on one of the cable channels about a group of girls that went to Thailand to train and compete in a Muay Thai (hope I spelled that right) tournament. It was very good. And talk about sacrifice, spending all that time in a foreign country.
Unlike some of the women's boxing stuff that has been shown, these mma girls have excellent skills and put on a fabulous show because of it. If they could put the bouts out on a regular basis, it would probably build a decent sized audience.
Funny the other day I was browsing youtube and stumbled onto these types of fights. I guess I had my fill of everything else and said what the heck. Its unreal the still these women have and determination. And more so the amount of pain they can take and dish out. It is one style of fem fighting I like to watch without the use of hands (LOL) ouch ... tough crowd! Hey if its fem fighting I'll watch it over anything else plain and simple.
Happy 4th everyone and for the Brits happy 5th tomorrow!!! Dio I'm surprised you didn't post your famous "Independence day" speech! Please do even if its days from now.
DrChin, Thailand is cheap, warm and has amazing beaches. Europeans flock there on vacation. I doubt those girls thought of it as a sacrifice.
Watching the MMA clips, some things come to mind:
First, whoever claims that he's watching DWW or Fightingstyle or Modelfight or even APL to admire the technical skill is deluding himself. And when those producers would have us marvel at the skill of their women, they're deluding either themselves or us.
Second, MMA fights make me feel awkward at times, when they're on the verge of being sexy. The mounted headlocks, for instance. Sex is the last thing on the fighters' minds, and yet I can't help but wonder if some of the audience don't feel the same tinge of excitement that I feel.
Third, I suppose everybody has some idea of boxing, olympic wrestling, and traditional martial arts such as karate and judo, but this submission wrestling continues to bewilder me. One clip has the women clutching on to each other's legs, twisting each other's feet to gain a submission. That's brutal.
Here's ten more:
Carina Damm vs Vanessa Porto part 1:
Carina Damm vs Vanessa Porto part 2:
Carina Damm vs Ines Lopes:
Hisae Watanabe vs "Strawberry":
Satoko Shinashi vs Kim Tae-Kyung:
Tevi Say vs Laura D'Auguste:
Satoko Shinashi vs Caloline Hoebercts
Burmese ungloved kickboxing 1:
Burmese ungloved kickboxing 2:
Megumi Fujii vs Kyra Gracie (submission wrestling):
