What’s Wrong with Being ‘Sexy and Tough’? Controversial Marketing Campaign for Tate Vs Rousey

All of these photos tweeted by Showtime Sports feature Strikeforce champion Miesha Tate and contender, Ronda Rousey, fully clothed, but—-well, different from how you normally see female fighters posing when they are promoting a fight. The photos, sent out on Monday, were paving the way for the promotional video sent out on Tuesday (Valentine's Day).

Does marketing female fighters this way work for you? video

From Showtime Sports on Twitter, "Love is in the air, but @MieshaTate & @RondaRousey are NOT feeling it. More pics and exclusive video coming tomorrow!" and "Sexy AND Tough? @MieshaTate & @RondaRousey are both. Stay tuned for some sultry pics from the ladies video shoot!"

Click the links to see the photos on Twitter (I don't have permission to reprint).

@SHOsports tweeted an image of Miesha, standing, wearing a dress, posing with her championship belt, "The @Strikeforce Women's World Champion @MieshaTate. Catch the intimate video/photo shoot THIS WEEK right here! pic.twitter.com/opxAt1XO"

"Wowza a picture really is worth a million words pic.twitter.com/GVstBAUN @MieshaTate # TeamTate", commented Matt Martin on the ponytail stare-down image. "Tapout" magazine's Jennifer Swift, agreed, "I love this pic! # WMMA"

Retired MMA fighter, Frank Shamrock, retweeted, "Would you guess that someone so elegant could send you to the ER with a brutal armbar? @RondaRousey can. pic.twitter.com/KIgQvGeo"

Vincent Tuzzolino tweeted another version of a stare-down, with both women wearing dresses. Apparently, he was speechless because he just tweeted the image without a message. "@MieshaTate @SHOsports # STRIKEFORCE pic.twitter.com/rXgScawp"

Here's another image, tweeted by ShoSports and more what you might expect, "Photog @austinhargrave felt the intensity of @RondaRousey up close. Full gallery of Ronda & @MieshaTate to come. http://pic.twitter.com/JKLEP8ha"

Who are Showtime Sports marketing to?

I have to admit, when I first saw the headless torso of a young woman reclining on a couch (Ronda), I thought something was wrong with the picture. I wrote it off as a mistake (someone probably downloaded the wrong image - how embarrassing) and went about my business.

Later on, when I realized that a second headless torso of a different woman (Miesha) had been tweeted, I went to SHOsports Twitter page to see what was going on. Obviously, I had missed something. Maybe they were playing a weird game of some sort?

Showtime Sports tweeted, "We are just trying to tease the photos we are sending out later. Kind of a guess who, type deal. No disrespect meant."

I noticed a couple of tweets from Ann Gaffigan, who operates a popular blog called, "Women Talk Sports" (WTS), "Now you can't even show her face?" and "Good one. You're proving my point very well. The audience this marketing caters to is full of d-bags."

Ann responded directly to Showtime Sports. "@SHOsports Do you not see the problem with promoting the biggest women's MMA fight since 2009 as 'sexy and sultry'?"

No doubt, these images are causing a lot of heated discussion on WTS.

It's not just looks that can kill…

Actually, after looking at them again, the photos are pretty tame. The stare down picture with both women sporting ponytails is my favorite.

As far as the video goes, if I were a young, fighting woman in my prime, I'd love to make a video like that. Except that I'd want my opponent to disappear in a puff of smoke.

Meanwhile, these two fighters have their focus where it should be: getting ready for the fight.

Ronda: "Enjoy your sleep @MieshaTate …. I'm training."

No response from Miesha. No doubt, she's training too.

Speaking of Valentine's Day…

I suppose these photos are interesting, but I'm actually more intrigued by the Twitter conversation between Ronda Rousey (Honda Housey) and Renato Laranja, "@RondaRousey @Jennifer_SwifT I'm gonna make it up to both of you. What night this week the three of us can get together?"

You might be asking, "who is Renato Laranja?" His Twitter bio says, "If you don't know, you better to ask somebody."

That makes me laugh every time I read it. People tell me that Renato—besides being a black belt BJJ ace who hangs out with Eddie Bravo and the 10th Planet crew— is also the second "most interesting man in the world".

Sarah Kaufman vs Alexis Davis (headlining the Prelim card on Showtime Extreme)

Both Ronda and Miesha have been training diligently for their fight. By March 3rd, those headless torso photos will be forgotten and everyone's attention will be on the main event - Tate vs. Rousey.

Former Strikeforce champion, Sarah Kaufman vs Alexis Davis is the second female fight scheduled on the same night, but on a different channel. How do they expect us to keep this all straight? Sultry poses. New channels. Female contender—not on the main card—but at least the fight is televised.

You might recognize Alexis as one of the "Picks from Fight Chicks" chicks who make fight predictions regularly with me, Danielle West and Elaina Maxwell, who are also professional MMA fighters.

Views: 103

Tags: miesha, ronda, rousey, sexy, strikeforce, tate, vs

Comment

You need to be a member of The Next Great Fighter - TNGF to add comments!

Join The Next Great Fighter - TNGF

Members

Ring Girls Blog

Exclusive : MMA Ring Girl Of The Week Shannon Ihrke Interview And Gallery

This week TNGF brings you an exclusive interview with ProElite's Shannon Ihrke. Shannon is currently a ProElite MMA spokesmodel and ring girl. She has also worked with King of the Cage and Sterling Entertainment with fights all around the Midwest.

This former Marine, yes you read that right, has put together an impressive modeling career over the last 2 years that we can only predict will continue to blossom in the future.

Shannon's body of work…

Exclusive : MMA Ring Girl Of The Week Brooke Lynette Interview And Gallery

This weeks we have a special entry in to our popular Ring Girl of the Week section with the very beautiful Brooke Lynette giving us an exclusive interview.

Brooke is a model and the head ring girl for the UK promotion Cage Warriors. Brooke was born and bred in Scotland and made her Cage Warriors debut at CWFC 41 back in April 2011. She has enjoyed a very successful career as commercial, lingerie and fitness model for over six years.

To know more about Brooke…

MMA Ring Girl of The Week Gallery: ProElite Girl Paige Chapman - aka 'Chanel Rae'

Remember ProElite? If not ProElite is hoping that their hot as can get, 21 year old model from Los Angeles named Paige Chapman - aka Chanel Rae - will help keep the promotion fresh in your head.

You can follow Paige Chapman on her facebook and modelmayhem pages.

BTW if the pictures you find on here and on her FB and MM pages are…

MMA Ring Girl of the Week - Fighter Miesha Tate

Written By J Sladky, TNGF.com

Miesha Tate is a professional female mixed martial artist. Not actually a ring girl but a major player in women's MMA and the current Strikeforce Women's Bantamweight Champ! She has also competed and won a silver medal in the FILA Grappling Championships.

Tate is currently the #4-ranked in the overall women's pound-for-pound MMA ranking by…

MMA Ring Girl of The Week Gallery: Belle Rodriguez

 

If you don't know who Belle Rodriguez is you will now!

 

Belle was coed magazines's Miss COED for 4/28/10. She hails from New York but works as a ring girl in Las Vegas. She’s done commercial shoots for Ed Hardy and Harley Davidson in addition to appearing in Playboy, Stuff, and Maxim en Espanol. Her TV credits include Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Friday Night Fights on ESPN 2, Real Housewives of NYC, and a commercial for Heineken Premium…

JOIN OUR REWARD PROGRAM



Live Traffic Feed

[Lyoto Machida (10% off, Promo Code: JCA10)]

© 2012   Created by The Beast.

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service

Offline

Live Video



Share us