Acceptance of female MMA

[Rosi]

the fact that there isn't any big womens shows (smack girl and HnS being the biggest) - doesn't that make you think that the general public have already voted with their feet and PPV buttons not to want female MMA on a big scale? (I am not saying this is my view, just pushing a discussion point out there)

Most of them have never seen much (any?) female MMA, so are not in a position to make an informed judgement. Not liking the idea of something and not liking the thing itself are two entirely different things.

Same way a lot of the public don't like the idea of MMA until they see what it's about for themselves.

[iandean]

One thing is for sure I think UK MMA has evloved as 2 nearly 3 years ago i complained about not seeing much at a show and all kinds of abuse and phsyical threats However i still went to shows.

As for the women issue yeah having "lesbian" sex shows at events may not be to everyone's taste and may upset people and it may be deemed as unprofessional. Does this happen at Strike Force now....no it don't, sadly it was one of those things that happened in the dark ages of MMA. But it was just 1 thing out of a whole host of things that was wrong with MMA then. I started writing a big list of things that was poor then, but i won;t post it becuase i'll just get more threats and get told once again that i have an agenda.

I do still object at some of the remarks made about events that happened over 2 years ago, and if they stop you going to our show, which has evolved a great deal since then, then its a shame but we can't force you. We'll have to convince you otherwise by carry on doing what we do at the moment and produce more top class MMA shows at the skydome and make those comments look even more invaild.

[iandean]

I do accept Kainer has very valid points but the problem we all have is one of first impressions and perceptions, very like the arguments for womens MMA! My son won't pay and travel to CW for a different reason, the one he and his friends went to they couldn't see very much because there were cameramen and photographers in the way.Now I'm sure that has been remedied but its too late for those fans.They can't afford to pay out to see a show which may be disappointing, with limited money they need a certainty. It's a Catch 22. Believe me I do know how hard it is trying to get everything right, I've just slept 16 hours straight after an exhausting few weeks trying to make a show right, pleasing people ain't easy!
I accept too that CW have been supportive to women fighters, I think that they just don't actually understand what to them is harmless girl fun is actually embarrassing and demeaning to a lot of people. I know it's not meant to offend but to entertain,it's just I don't think they've thought about the signals it gives out.

See my post above for the awnser to the ring girl question

However about people blocking the cage, this is another one of the UK Scene little ironies. As it was becuase of complaints about people's views being blocked that CW President Dougie Truman stopped the clutter at ringside and introduced a "press pit" at all CW Strike Force shows. All the MMA reporters were told they can sit there and watch the event and report.

At CW:SF events we have Robert Swann to take pictures for us and a film crew to tape the show. Both sets of people are needed, Robert to take promo shots to go in magazines, and the film crew to film the show for promo purposes, dvd's tv coverage etc. Both groups are needed for a professional show and i would dare say are demanded by our fans.

However becuase of the increasing competition in the MMA media field, this was not good enough and several websites wanted exclsuive pictures for their site. At CW:SF 3 a small position was granted by the cage door where website reporters could go and get excslusive snaps. CW also decided to add one more ringside place to Fighters Only magazine. (which is the UK's leading MMA publication, and i beileve any fair minded organisation would do the same.)

However that was not enough and at CW:SF 4 several leading MMA websites and publications did not turn up becuase they could not be granted a place to take pictures. One media outlet did not respond at all to the invite they was given. There may have been other factors too.

So as you can see CW are currently in somewhat of a quandary in this issue, we have expensive rignside tables and people who buy those seats want a good views, fans in the stands want a good view (and due to tiered seating i think they do) However as an organisation we need more press coverage. It's another tricky situation which the CW team are working on for 2006.