The Ultimate Fighter: Mean Girls

Photo Credit: fightofthenight.com 

By: Chris Huntemann, Columnist

     When UFC announced that its 20th season of The Ultimate Fighter would exclusively feature women’s strawweight (115 pounds) fighters, with the winner of that season becoming the inaugural UFC women’s strawweight champion, I thought it was a significant moment in mixed martial arts. It definitely represented a vast departure from UFC president Dana White’s previous comments that women would never compete in UFC.

While the first half of the strawweight season unfolded with relatively little drama, it has definitely ramped up lately. I feel some of the competitors on this season are doing damage not only to themselves, but for women athletes in general. This season looks less Ultimate Fighter with each episode and more like a cheap reenactment of the film “Mean Girls.”

This season also highlights some of the negative stereotypes of women. Accusations of bullying and “catty” behavior by some of the competitors have become the preeminent storyline on this season of The Ultimate Fighter. The word "bitches" is also prominent on the show.

A “clique” has formed in the episodes we've seen so far, led by Angela Magana and featuring other competitors like Bec Rawlings, Carla Esparza and Felice Herrig, that dubbed themselves the “Skrapettes” (a name I dislike almost as much as “The Four Horsewomen”). The brunt of their behavior seems to be directed at fighters Heather Clark and Tecia Torres, though Torres achieved some measure of retribution by defeating Rawlings in the season’s final preliminary fight.

Magana, Rawlings and others questioned the severity of Clark’s knee injury that she divulged during the show, and seemed to continue expressing skepticism after Clark revealed she had a torn ACL. The group also displayed hostile behavior toward Torres to try and get her to move out of the bedroom she shared with Rawlings prior to their preliminary fight and booing her after her victory. I don’t seem to be alone in the belief that bullying has become a problem during this season, and it has generated a backlash that also included some awful language:

the bullying and bitching in tuf 20 is disgusting most of them need to grow up athletes huh more like a bunch of little crying girls
— Abby Taylor (@abdnguy11) November 13, 2014

Makes sense to me. Heather Clark, Lisa Ellis Point to Angela Magana as Bullying Leader on ‘TUF 20’ http://t.co/wxITSElGFK via @po_st
— Mel (@LittleOne_Mel) October 24, 2014

I guarantee Herrig was the sole cause of her own "bullying" on TUF 20. She's an attention whore with a "poor me" complex.Terrible role model
— Dono Duck (@ActionDonson) September 9, 2014

At best, Magana and the others were noncommittal about their behavior:

If ur following the no1 strawweight in the world, me. Angela Magana on twitter. Ur bullying Heather Clark. #wellshit
— Angela Magana UFC (@AngelaMagana1) November 14, 2014

@CarlaEsparza1 It's funny how they only show one side to a story.. you'd think they have a hidden agenda... oh wait 😉 😝
— 'Rowdy' Bec Rawlings (@RowdyBec) November 20, 2014

If being a "bitch" means growing sick of a nasty passive aggressive person then calling her on it, then I guess I'm a bitch #Utrylivewithher
— Felice Herrig (@feliceherrig) November 20, 2014

The narrative by Rawlings, Esparza and the others that UFC purposely edited the footage to portray them in a negative light doesn’t pass the smell test, simply because it’s not a denial. They haven’t really disputed that they engaged in the behavior they were accused of. In my opinion, this behavior is a real detriment to women’s MMA.

MMA is a brutal sport, and not everyone is going to be nice or display good sportsmanship. However, women have worked twice as hard, if not more, to be considered equals to men in all athletics. Being on national television, in a growing sport that becomes more popular each and every day, and reinforcing the stereotype that women can’t get along, talk trash behind each other’s backs and sometimes form cliques at the exclusion of others, damages the fighters’ credibility and that of their sport.

Instead of focusing on some of the extraordinary performances of this season, including Randa Markos’ advancement and amazing submission victory (despite being one of the lower seeds) and Jessica Penne showing why she is one of the favorites, the dominant narrative is the fighters bullying each other.

Instead of focusing on some of the fighters' more inspiring backgrounds, including Rawlings being able to escape from an abusive relationship, Aisling Daly coming up with other Irish fighters like Conor McGregor and Cathal Pendred, Alex Chambers having an education in science, engineering and astrophysics but instead deciding to pursue a career in fighting to Magana overcoming being born addicted to drugs and having two addicts for parents, the focus is on behavior that makes no positive contribution to what these women are trying to accomplish.

The 20th season of The Ultimate Fighter should be a landmark moment for women’s MMA. In many ways, it still is. But the behavior of some is threatening the progress of many in a sport that’s still fighting for respect.

 Chris Huntemann writes about mixed martial arts in the state of Maryland. He also contributes his thoughts to our site on the UFC, Bellator, and World Series of Fighting. Check out his blog, or follow him on Twitter: @mmamaryland.