Women in the Pacific Northwest are changing the model of local combat sports and raising a new generation of fighters.
In 2022, across the United States, 2.34 million people trained in martial arts for fitness and about 39,310 martial arts businesses were operating in 2020. This wave of interest in the practice and ownership of combat sports and related businesses is not unknown to the Pacific Northwest. Within Washington state, 92 MMA gyms were reported in the Tapology Gym directory.
Despite increased popularity in combat sports and more gender inclusion happening in the mainstream with larger organizations having shifted their policies, women across Washington continue to address the adversities of female athletes in the arts while also creating safe spaces for everyone to experience the benefits of combat sports.
Entering a ‘man’s world’
Historically, men have dominated the realm of combat sports, though women have practiced these sports for years as well just with minimal visibility in the popular media.
The signing of the first female fighter, Ronda Rousey, to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) — one of the world’s largest mixed martial arts organizations allowing athletes from all over the globe to showcase their skills and abilities — in 2012 and the Olympics allowing women to compete in boxing the same year were viewed as milestones for women in combat sports. Both events increased social acceptability for women to fight and brought more visibility to female athletes in martial arts.
Although larger sports platforms and organizations — such as ONE Championship, the UFC, USA Boxing and the Olympics — are drawing more attention to women, combat sports and the arts have continued to minimize women and stifle their athletic possibilities.
“You know, at the time, [there] was mostly male coaches and a certain kind of misogyny always in the air,” retired cage fighter Jenny Liou said reflecting on her time in combat sports.
Liou first entered the arts by practicing jujitsu in the late ’80s and early ’90s.
“As a little kid, my parents wanted me to do kung fu, but there were no kung fu classes where I grew up in Moscow, Idaho,” Liou said. “So they somehow put me into a jujitsu class instead, and I hated it.”
She said her family had a “weakness” where people were not allowed to quit.
“So I just did it for a little while when I was a kid until my parents told me I could stop,” Liou said.
Liou practiced jujitsu on and off until she finally decided to take her training more seriously during her time in graduate school in 2005. She said entering the world of martial arts once again allowed for an escape away from her more sedentary and cerebral workspace.
Cage fighting was not something Liou intended as she threw herself back into the arts; instead, she said she “wandered” into cage fighting accidentally when one of her jujutsu teammates was getting ready for a fight against former UFC 18-13 Strawweight Mixed martial artist Michelle Waterson-Gomez.
Liou was encouraged to train and practice with her teammate to prepare her for the fight with Waterson-Gomez.
“I was like, ‘but I don’t cage fight’ and they were like ‘here’s a boil-and-bite mouthguard, go make it and then borrow some gear and get in the cage’,” Liou said.
As soon as the rounds of sparring started, Liou said she realized how fun cage fighting was. “It’s something inevitable when you do a sport like that,” Liou said about falling in love with the sport.
“There is something empowering about building your own skills and your own strength,” she said.
Liou eventually ended up fighting for many years until her retirement in 2017.
As she progressed in cage fighting she said she found it harder to come up through the lower ranks of Women’s Professional Cage Fighting.
“Oftentimes, you’re the only woman on the team,” she said. “And, you know, kind of like you feel like you are set apart from the rest of the people that you’re training with.”
At one point during her fighting career, one of the promotions Liou fought for and signed with demanded she attend events with male sponsors.
“I’m sorry, are you asking male fighters to do this? Because as far as I understand, I signed a contract to fight someone else in the cage,” she said. “I did not sign up to accompany random people to random events for no particular reason.”
Liou said she found that part of the sport infuriating, sexist and ridiculous.
“If you don’t stay in the good graces of an organization, you’re not going to get fights,” Liou added.
Other women in the realm of combat sports here in the Pacific Northwest can attest to the differing gender dynamics and experiences.
Kim Bao is a striking coach at the Queen’s Dojo located in Seattle, training in martial arts since 1988.
Bao said it is important to create a space where women can show up and feel safe enough to train.
“What was interesting is that when I was training at my old gym at AMC, the biggest challenge that we would have is trying to keep women,” she said. “We would have so many men coming in to compete so when women would walk into the space we almost had to beg them to stay.”
Bao said they would do anything to keep these women in this space but they would fall out because the environment was always so aggressive and scary-looking.
Bao recently went to a women’s tournament hosted by USA Boxing and found a lot of aspects that are continuing the male culture of martial arts.
“It was interesting to watch how the male dynamics would come out, right? So if you go into a space where men are predominantly the ones in charge, you’re going to see a lot of being spoken down to, or like what we call ‘the boys’ club,’ right?”
Bao said the boys’ club consists of people who are in the know, and they get favored.
“Those are all difficult spaces for women to show up in because of the nature of traditional martial arts,” Bao said. “So with martial arts, when you go in and you find gyms that you can actually find that there are women that are training out of there, you want to develop that [accepting] culture and praise them. The more that women can step into the space, the more likelihood of everybody getting an opportunity to compete.”
Traditional versus new: claiming a space for women
Combat sports and specific events may still be male-centric, but Bao and Liou agree that as time has progressed inclusivity has changed — with more women coaches, mentors, fighters and promoters entering the spotlight.
Nicole Gan helps manage T-Town MMA in Tacoma, along with welcoming new members and managing memberships for other students. From time to time, she takes on the kickboxing classes at T-Town.
Gan started in the arts in 2017, her first gym was in Boulder, Colorado. Gan said the classes in the gym were split well regarding gender.
“It wasn’t brought to my attention that [a fair split] was so out of the norm until I moved over to Washington state,” she said. When I walked in, I think I was the only female at T-Town kickboxing my first day.”
Gan said over time she has seen the community grow, with more women entering.
“I’ve met a lot of incredible women in the sport that are just breaking boundaries like crazy,” Gan said. “There’s always room for improvement. This is a changing sport.”
Gan said she can recognize in the past two or three years that the sport has changed drastically with more opportunities and more female leaders involved locally in the community than ever before.
“For example, we’ve got Brooke, we’ve got Kim, and we’ve got all these people who are leading gyms who are creating promotions that are not only safe for women but also creating a standard for promotions in this state,” Gan said. “That itself has been a massive change.”
Gan said the reality is we do have women in the state to fight, but they do not feel comfortable because this access has not been an option in the past.
Brooke Pete, co-owner of both Pure Fitness Martial Arts and Legendary Fight Promotions, runs an all-female fight card once a year while also accepting registrations from fighters of any gender to participate in the eight to 10 shows they host annually
Bao also hosts a variety of seminars and events open solely to women — creating a safe learning environment in hopes of encouraging women to continue in combat sports.
Bao adds the biggest problem in the present day is most gyms, especially traditionally male-run gyms, are big into taking care of their most athletically inclined. She said a majority of gyms will not build women from the ground up or give them the type of attention required for a woman to consistently come into the competitive space.
“There are a few gyms that are definitely doing that now, and we’re excited to see them come to fruition in terms of their debut and their consistency of fighting,” Bao said. “But in order for us to be able to get those women fights, we all as a collective must train any woman that walks into the door and make it a safe space for them to continuously show up so that they can develop and eventually get to the point where they can compete.”
More than fighting
With all the challenges women in combat sports face, martial arts still have much to offer local communities and individuals.
For Kathy Holmes, the arts allowed her to gain a higher sense of self-esteem and address other internal conflicts. Holmes was one of the co-owners of Total Confidence Martial Arts, a martial arts school located in Bellingham that closed in 2014.
“I had always been really ashamed of being biracial, and I didn’t learn the term internalized racism or model minority until I moved to Seattle 10 years ago,” she said. “But once I learned those terms so many things clicked.…”
Holmes said she contained internalized racism and shame toward her Japanese heritage, and even though the arts she studied at the time were not Japanese martial arts, she still was able to find a way to be proud and connect to her Asian heritage.
Although there is a cultural aspect that combat sports may bring to individuals and local communities, the arts also bring in money. Pete said combat sports promotion is sorely missed in tourism.
“For example, for Legendary Fight Promotions, one of the things we pay for are flights — so you import a fighter from Canada from California, from Texas,” she said. “Okay, well that airline that is global is now bringing that money back to Seattle or Bellingham.”
To this point, Pete said bringing fighters to town for events and shows that are thrown through fight promotions also feeds into the local economy by paying into local vacation rentals, restaurants, markets, venues and more.
Legendary Fight Promotions specifically partners with local businesses, such as Mi Rancho Meat Market, to provide music, food, refreshments and services at each show.
Other promotions in the area also partner with family and local businesses, restaurants and more to bring money into the smaller communities, such as Universal Combat Sports, a martial arts nonprofit based in Bellevue and War Kickboxing in Arlington.
Proceeds from Universal Combat Sports’ Muay Thai events are used to provide training opportunities, gear, and memberships for underprivileged youth, according to their mission statement.
“Holding a fight promotion is an extremely efficient and good way to get 3,000 people to see you in four hours and remember you,” Pete said.
Pete said Martial Arts continues to be a “foreign” industry that may go unnoticed or lumped into other sports and recreational activities — such as pilates or yoga.
“It’s a little bit different, you know? I know that, for example, a yoga studio will hold a retreat, and that will bring people here, but the reach and the economic impact I don’t believe is as deep as combat sports,” she said,“because there’s so many layers where people can spend their money, have a good time and enjoy the area.”
— By Aria Nguyen
Ed.: Aria Nguyen is a fighter at Pure Fitness Martial Arts and volunteers her spare time to Legendary Fight Promotions as well. Despite working for both businesses, she wanted to showcase other female athletes and coaches in the arts.
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