Shooto Brazil is making waves around the MMA world. They are the first promotion to pair a professional male MMA fighter against a professional female MMA fighter.
Before people jump straight to the publicity stunt aspect of this story, there’s actually some precedent for this fight occurring. Mixed gender wrestling occurs all the way up to the collegiate level and women compete quite well. mixed martial arts isn’t separated until after high school and even then women are allowed to compete against males in some tournaments.
Therefore, a male vs female MMA fight isn’t a stretch by any means. Some concerns would consist of the obvious strength differences between adult men vs adult women, the rules of the fight, and the social criticism that occurs outside of the cage.
Both fighters are fairly young in their MMA careers but both come from very established gyms in Brazil. This publicity could do them both well in the long term and the fight itself will surely capture fans that the promotion wouldn’t otherwise reach.