Embark on a groundbreaking exploration of one of the world's fastest-growing sports-Women's Mixed Martial Arts (WMMA). While women now captivate audiences worldwide with their prowess in the cage, scant sociological literature exists on this phenomenon. This dissertation seeks to unravel the complexities surrounding WMMA, exploring the identities of these new female subjects, the ways in which they challenge and reproduce gender norms, and the extent to which their participation can be characterized as empowering.
Through a critical ethnography of WMMA, drawing from over four years of fieldwork, content analysis of WMMA media, and 40 semistructured interviews with professional athletes, this research provides the most comprehensive sociological account of WMMA to date. The study assesses the sport's potential as a platform for women's empowerment, questioning whether it challenges patriarchal constructions of gender or inadvertently reinforces existing norms.