Trish Poe
For many, Mixed Martial Arts represent human version of cock fighting but MMA is a sport that has been millenniums in the making. The various art form involved in the sports including Karate, wrestling, boxing and Muay Thai; sports with a history that goes back to when humans went upright. One of the more intriguing aspects is the number of women who are interested or working in the combat sports of MMA and boxing.
Trish Poe is an aspiring model and photographer who represent much of the female MMA base. Ms. Poe has been involved in Mixed Martial Arts since she was six years old and regularly trains to keep in shape. As she noted, “The reason I train and fight relate a lot to those of the reasons why a man does it, a woman can do anything a man can.” This attitude reflects many of what I have observed of boxers and MMA stars and Ms. Poe is also symbolic of why MMA has grown. As Trish Poe told me, she began her career at an early age of 6 and this reflects the advantages of MMA have over boxing today. When my dad and others learned self-defense, they were sent to the boxing ring but today, many will go to the local dojo to learn self-defense. During World War I and World War II, boxers were recruited to help soldiers learn self-defense. Today a soldier will be taught techniques based on MMA.
There was a time when boxing gyms populated small towns but today, the ability to learn boxing is limited by the availability of gyms whereas there are more than enough dojos where one can learn the basics of Karate and other martial arts. Many high schools have wrestling programs and if one lives in Iowa, wrestling is a big sport and many wrestlers drift toward MMA due to their knowledge of the ground game. Over the past several years, women have become more prominent in such sports.
When asked her favorite fighter, she told me the UFC Welterweight champion George Saint Pierre who she views as a well-rounded and discipline fighter. MMA have been successful in attracting young fans like Trish Poe, who admitted, “I like many sports but MMA is the only one that has caught my full attention.” Gaining the attention of young fans is the key to a sports long term success.
Emily Klinefelter is representative of a new breed of combat sport participants, a woman who has done both before injuries shorten her career. She noted, “I knew nothing about fighting, or boxing, or MMA when I first set foot in the gym. I was only 16 when I first started, so at first I think it was more that boxing was just something “cool” to do. After a few months I got more serious about it and realized that I really enjoyed the one-on-one combat aspect of sparring and competition.”
Interesting, her frustration with boxing and bored with the sport led her to try the MMA. She noted, “MMA was always thrilling to me because there was so much more that could happen in
an MMA fight than in boxing. Also, I wasn’t nearly as competent on the ground as I was on my feet so the fear that I could be put on my back contributed to the thrill of the fight.”
Emily Klinefelter
Presently, Ms. Klinefelter owns and run a MMA gym in Iowa City which features training in boxing, Muay Thai, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu plus she is also a head coach of a boxing program and leads amateur boxers in competition. When asked about problems with women in combat sports, “First of all, I think many coaches view women differently than men and either don’t want to coach women, or think women are inherently less athletically competent than men and thus hold women to a lower standard.” Another problem that hurts women is the lack of female training
partners and limited opportunities for matches. (Emily Klinefelter added that her coaches had no preconceived notions about women lack of ability and treated her like a male fighter.)
Amy Green has been fan of the sweet science of boxing since she was in grade school and watch fights with her dad. She remembered watching the Ali/Frazier trilogy and loved the heavyweights in the 70’s. Her dad loved Roberto Duran and, both followed Sean O’ Grady, a very good fighter from Ms. Green home state. She joked that, “My mother really liked Ray Leonard probably more for his commercial appeal than his boxing.” She noted, “Boxing caught my attention because it’s such a daring, crazy, dangerous and beautiful sport.”
Ms. Green has her own publicity company plus she is a contributing writer for billycboxing.com and PrimeRound Magazine. She credits women pioneers Jackie Kallen, Rachel Charles and Terri Moss for opening the door for others like her to make it. She stated, “For the women that fight, it’s still a tough road. A lot of that struggle comes from the promoters not taking a chance on women’s boxing, and other problems can be attributed to the sport not having the depth of fighters the men’s divisions do, which makes good competition scarce and forces many times, bad matches.” Emily Klinefelter agreed when she told me, “Most boxing fans do not demand women’s matches on cards and promoters don’t care to put many women on their shows. There are definitely examples where female boxers do carry a significant fan following. Two that come to mind are Holly Holm and Mary McGee. I think the key to success for these women is that they have a promoter behind them that took a risk and made them regulars, and even headliners on their cards.” Amy Green added, “ For every sorry PPV undercard I’ve paid for to watch an overpriced men’s fight, there are very exciting female fighters working and waiting to take their place and give the audiences a lot more bang for their dollars.”
George Saint Pierre
If Ms. Poe and Ms. Klinefelter love the combat sports as their sports, Ms. Green loves other sports when not working the boxing scene. She told me, “NFL- Packers are my favorite team; and the NBA since we have the OKC Thunder an hour away and do watch a little baseball- big Yankees fan.”
Amy Green, like many of our generation, grew up watching boxing and still that is her combat sport whereas Trish Poe, similar in age to my children, grew up following Mixed Martial Arts. Both sports produced the theater of the unexpected and there is nothing more exciting that the knock out, for the one brief moment that often moves in slow motion can end a fight. Drama follows the two women enter the ring or the Octagon and only one will leave victorious.
That is the beauty of the two combat sports.
Boxing has always been part of sports red light district and among the polite crowd; MMA is considered not much higher than boxing. A couple of guys or gals knocking each other around is so brutally nasty if not politically incorrect but no one really complains about football, a sport with as much violence as either combat sports. MMA and boxing represent a competitive urge that has been with us as humans from the time we were chasing Saber Tooth tiger that urge to show who the meanest and baddest guy or gal is around. Neither sports may not be politically correct
but they are sports that have thousands years of history, which is enough of a reason to enjoy them.
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