A friend asked me my opinion via social media recently about the recent story of former UFC fighter Tank Abbott challenging current UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey to a fight in the most misogynistic way possible. I think the less people pay attention to a person like Abbott, the better off the world is, in general. However, the issue also speaks to the larger debate about whether a male vs. female bout should ever be sanctioned, as many people have advocated for Rousey to start fighting men. I wrote a pretty lengthy reponse, at least by Facebook standards. Here's what I had to say about it:
First, a little bit of background on Tank Abbott: he made his name in the early days of the UFC, starting at UFC 6 around 1995. He was known for two things: having ferocious punching power, and being an absolute POS as a human being. That combination made him very popular among fans of that era, because they'd pay to see him either knock someone stiff, or get winded inside of two minutes and then get the hell beaten out of him. He was always a bully and got suspended for unprofessional conduct (ie fighting outside of an event) more than once. His last fight of any relevance was 2008, where he got knocked out by a guy he was hand-picked to lose to. (It wasn't a fixed fight, Tank just had nothing at that point and was in it for the paycheck.) He's now 50 years old, likely broke, and hasn't been taken seriously in well over a decade. He's essentially using what little name recognition he has left (outside of early UFC fans) to troll the Internet to try to get some attention. Rousey's an elite athlete and dominant champion who is genuinely accomplished, while Tank is a glorified barroom brawler who is trying to use her name to promote himself. He's not worth any time or attention from her.
On the larger issue of male vs female fights, I've always found the argument for them odd. I'm not a tennis fan, but I've certainly heard of the Williams sisters. I've never heard anyone try to say they need to now take on men in tennis to prove how good they are. (Maybe some have said that, but I've never heard it.) The fact that people make that argument for a combat sport is absurd. I think the larger issue is it shows some of the misogyny that permeates society in general and sports in particular in that people keep trying to move the goal posts before giving Rousey credit for her success. "Well, she won an Olympic medal, but she can't really fight." "Well, she's undefeated as a fighter, but hasn't beaten anyone good." "Well, she's beaten the best in her weight division in under two minutes total, but could she beat a dude?"
It's absurd. I don't think a male vs female fight is ever anything that should be considered, regardless of who is involved. (For the record, Ronda would probably beat the holy hell out of Tank- she's an elite athlete while he was ridiculously out of shape twenty years ago and couldn't defend an armbar in his prime, but what's the point?)
Luckily, Ronda also agrees with that viewpoint, stating that while she believes she could beat anybody, it sends the wrong message to start promoting male/female violence, and I whole-heartedly agree. Nobody tells Mayweather he needs to fight a heavyweight fighter to really prove himself, so people clamoring for Rousey to fight a guy to somehow gain credibility says more about their limited and ignorant worldview than it does of any shortcomings of Rousey as a fighter, athlete or person.
That's my two cents.