5 Things We Learned From First Ever UFC Women's Strawweight Fight

4. The Skill Level Is There

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gd9Ru1sTolE I mentioned the takedowns. I mentioned submission attempts. Crisp striking. Cardio. Ground game. Top control. The female strawweights have all the essential MMA abilities. During the early days of WMMA, a lot of the criticism lobbed towards female fighters was that the girls lacked skill. That they just went out and did some sloppy kickboxing. In general, women's MMA has come a long way, and if there was ever some valid criticism along those lines, it's long since moot. The women's strawweight division's debut in Dublin put the exclamation point on that. Gadelha had her opponent in serious trouble towards the end of the first round, taking her back and looking for a rear naked choke. While Lahdemaki struggled a little, she was able to defend - so Gadelha, aware she had time, re-adjusted and applied a neck crank. Again, Lahdemaki escaped, and while it wasn't the tightest sequence, the crowd appreciated it, and when you get a live crowd into your ground game, you're doing something right. Mauy Thai cliches became key in the fight as well, as did solid kicks, and some incredibly slick takedowns on the part of Gadelha. This bodes well for the strawweights as many of the fighters yet to appear in the strawweight division are on Gadelha's level or beyond.