Duo carry torch for women’s MMA

Then again, Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate aren’t fighting to lay the foundation for women’s equality.

The two will headline a Strikeforce card tonight in Columbus, Ohio, where they will fight for Tate’s bantamweight title and possibly the viability of women’s mixed martial arts at the highest level.

Strikeforce long has been the world’s top organization for women’s MMA, with a 2009 bout between longtime featherweight champion Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos and Las Vegan Gina Carano as the biggest fight of all time. But on the heels of a positive steroid test by Santos and with Carano not having fought since that night and looking less and less likely to fight again, Rousey and Tate appear to be the best hope for rejuvenating interest in the division.

“I’m thinking about the big picture because my career is totally dependent on the big picture. If there is no sport, there is no me,” Rousey said. “I’ve consciously been trying to build this fight in a way that will make women’s MMA more sustainable and interesting over a long period of time.”

Tate and Rousey are attractive, ultra-talented 25-year-olds. Neither the fighters nor the organization has shied away from marketing the event as essentially two hot, talented chicks ready to throw down on each other once the bell rings.

They acknowledge that angle can take women’s fighting only so far.

“If you see two girls fighting on a playground, of course you’ll stop and look for a minute, then keep walking. You don’t keep fans like that,” Rousey said. “That’s why you don’t see ring girls fighting. Yeah, sure, they’re pretty. But after you stop, you’d be like, ‘Whoa, there’s two bitches fighting,’ and then you’d say, ‘Oh, Jesus, this is a disaster.’ You’d move on and not watch the rest of that.

“It’s the actual sport and skill that get people to stay, but you’ve got to give them a reason to watch in the first place.”

Tate said she hopes the marketing of the fight, which included a commercial featuring the fighters in cocktail dresses, will get people to tune in and see that they are two high-level athletes.

“Ronda and I are feminine women, and when you add on the fact that we’re fighters, it makes for an intriguing package,” Tate said. “For whatever reason, we’re gaining viewers, and it’s our job to perform. We want people to walk away from the fight with a positive outlook because of the way we fought and not if we’re gorgeous or not.”

Tate hasn’t shied away from marketing her looks, though.

“One minute it’s about the sport; the next she is wearing booty shorts on her website and it’s the entertainment business,” Rousey said.

Tate, who wrestled in high school and is making her first title defense, is more than a 3-to-1 underdog to Rousey, an Olympic judo medalist who has submitted all four of her pro opponents by armbar in less than a minute.

In addition to her world-class talents, Rousey is a skilled, quick-witted talker who admits she has drawn some of her shtick from professional wrestling. She appears to have the type of marketing potential not seen in women’s MMA since Carano, so a Rousey title reign could be just what the sport needs.

She will get the chance to get that belt tonight in her fifth pro fight. The bout headlines a card, which includes a lightweight contender bout between K.J. Noons and Josh Thomson, that airs tape-delayed on Showtime (Cable 240) at 10 p.m.

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow him on Twitter: @adamhilllvrj.