A Matter of Time: Why Strikeforce’s 135-Pound Women’s Tournament Failed

If my recent defense of Women’s MMA should tell you anything about me, it’s that I love watching Strikeforce’s females. While Women’s MMA as a whole is still growing and mostly playing catch-up to standard-bearers like Cristiane Santos and Megumi Fujii, it’s not even up for debate that Strikeforce has the best female MMA division of all the promotions that have female MMA divisions. This is why I was so excited for a one-night, 135-pound tournament to crown a contender for Sarah Kaufman’s 135-pound Strikeforce Women’s Championship. All four women involved in this tournament were very different from one another, and the clash of styles could have parlayed into four (with the reserve bout) straight show-stealing performances. While I think the fights themselves were decent enough, ultimately, the one-night tournament fell flat on its face and I’m honestly glad that it’s over. It was a novel idea that could have worked, but it failed for one major reason: the ridiculous time limits.

Two three-minute rounds for the preliminary fights? Are you kidding me, people? What the hell were they supposed to do with six minutes? I already hate three three-minute rounds, but cutting down the ring time even more just baffles me. These women don’t deserve to be coddled, it’s an insult to what they’ve accomplished and the skills they possess. I can see making the fight a round shorter because it’s a tournament, Strikeforce has done that before: look up their “Four Men Enter, One Man Survives” show. But since the men were fighting, the rules were two five-minute rounds, with a third if the fight went to a draw. And that event was held in 2007! The precedent for one-night tournaments was already set. I’m all about equality, fans and friends. Give the ladies their damn five minutes.

With the number one enemy for all the women being the clock, is it any wonder that only one fight didn’t end in a decision? You could even make an argument that the fight only ended because Hitomi Akano is one crazy woman, and fought hard for her submission even when it looked likely that she wouldn’t get it and that her opponent would take the decision win. Realistically, I can’t even fault virtually all the other female fighters for playing it relatively safe, staying in their comfort zones and being content to get the decision nod. What’s the point in going for something when the struggle to get it will likely eat up all that’s left of the clock? And did anybody else see that moronic ref stand-up, right as a submission was about to get locked in? With severe limitations and some mind-numbingly bad referees, this tournament was doomed from the start.

I’ll make one thing clear before I go: I’ve got nothing but respect for the women involved in this tournament. I enjoyed seeing them fight, and I think the rematch between champion Sarah Kaufman and tournament winner Meisha Tate will be one to watch. But if Strikeforce and the athletic commissions they answer to continue to hinder its females with all these stupid rules and regulations, we’re never going to get past the whole “women’s MMA fighter” and see the real truth of the situation: nobody should care what you’ve got below the waist, since an awesome MMA fighter is an awesome MMA fighter. Period.