The dream of becoming a Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) champion was a goal that only the elite male fighters of the world could dream of.
This all changed on February 23rd as the first female UFC Bantamweight (135lb) Champion Ronda Rousey (on the left) defended her belt against her challenger, Liz Carmouche (on the right).
The established method of marketing was modified to showcase the new female division’s main event. Instead of the usual montages of workouts interlaced by trash talk,
the UFC built a prime-time preview show which showcased the more emotional side of fighting.
The preview showcased Rousey’s sterling yet horribly unfair career. Even though she was the first American woman ever to win a bronze medal in the Olympics for Judo, she was relegated to being a waitress after the end of her decorated career. Liz Carmouche had had to hide her true self from her fellow marines due to the fact that she served during a time when the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy was in place.
The preview made the male viewer respect the plight of women in men’s world at the same time giving female viewers new role models to look up to. The editing of the video and the inspiring personal stories allowed female fighters to be considered on the same level of toughness and skill levels as the men while still being able to maintain their femininity.
The UFC’s marketing techniques essentially took an existing product line (the fighting events) and added depth by introducing women into the fight cards and garnered a new demographic of women viewers while not alienating their existing demographic of males aged from 18-35. Had the promotions been handled inappropriately, many male viewers may have considered the first female championship bout as a “cat fight” instead of the battle that it was.
The fight was a massive success from a marketing perspective as many major outlets (ESPN magazine, CNN, etc) who had never covered UFC events tuned in to watch the first and surely not the last women’s MMA fight.