Tonights show deserves mention because it features four Female MMA fights. That’s quadruples the number of female MMA fights that have appeared on national television thus far, so it definitely deserves attention. So I’ve been Tivo’ing (is that a verb?) the Bodog Fight on Ion TV. I’m actually really enjoying the show so far, the matches have been good so far. I’m not quite sure when DirecTV started carrying ION, but if you have Ion and have a Tivo (or another DVR) you should definitely check it out. Tonights show deserves mention because it features four Female MMA fights. That’s quadruples the number of female MMA fights that have appeared on national television thus far, so it definitely deserves attention. Intro is a bit strange, with all of the fighters standing in a field in Russia (the subtitle of the show is Bodog:St. Petersburg) when they are surrounded by tanks and soldiers pointing guns at them. Acting or not, I would not be too happy to have a machine gun pointed at me. Bodog Founder Calvin Ayre pops out of the tank and welcomes the fighters to St. Petersurg. I’m not quite sure what to make of Calvin Ayre just yet. I appreciate the fac the’s pouring a LOT of money into the sport. Every spot he appears on in so far has him surrounded by about 10 supermodels, getting out of private jets and limo. But does his SUV have spinners? The production value is really good. The intros and interviews for the fighters are well done, and they have some excellent expert commentary, in this case Shannon Hooper (pro fighter and girlfriend of Josh Barnett) and Denis Kang. First match is Hitomi Akano and Tama Chan. This fight actually takes place in Tokyo. Tama Chan comes out with some funky music and doing a dance. She’s dressed in an outfit covered in Ladybugs. That’s certainly something I haven’t seen before. Match starts off slowly. The commentary team of Jeff Osborne and Lon McEachern is excellent however, a little dry at time, but probably the most informed due in the business. If you listen you will actually learn something. Round one is over without too much action and some punk singer Bif Naked takes us to commercial. Bif naked scares me a little bit, and despite her name, I could not find any naked pictures of her on the net. I have concluded however this may not be a bad thing. The second round picks up the pace a little bit. After a scramble near the end of the round Akano catches Tama Chan in an armbar. Shayna Baszler vs Roxanne Modaferri is up next. I’ve seen Roxanne in various grappling tournaments; she’s pretty good; she’s also a rather frequent poster on MMA.tv I think she has been into this since a very young age, with her glasses on she looks more like more like a science camp member than the talented fighter she is. Ion has a commercial for Kung Fu. Something else to set my Tivo for! Hey, there’s my good friend Kid Peligro getting in his opinion of Baszler. In his expert opinion, she is “good”. Roxanne catches Shayna with a right hand right away which drops her on the ground. Pretty suprising since Roxanne was the “grappler” and Shayna is the muay thai fighter. Shayna pulls to guard and uses her legs to set up one of the nastiest chickenwings I’ve seen to get Roxanne to tap. I had rewound the bout several times to check out the set up (since they cut to commercial really quickly), and it was won of the sweetest submissions I’ve seen this year. More commercials then we get to Rosi Sexton vs Carina Damm. Good friend Kid Peligro offers more expert commentary on Carina, saying she’s very “good” looking and she’s “good”. Carina is sister of fighter Rodrigo Damm (she was actually the first one to train). She gets quite a bit of attention for her looks as well (nicknamed Beauty but the Beast) and has graced the picture of Playboy Japan. Rosi has a Phd and is also a mother. I haven’t tried keeping statistics on this but I can’t think of too many if any women who have kids and fought afterwards. Carina comes out in all pink and Rosi is wearing camoflauge. The fighters spend more of their time tied up against the ropes, exchanging strikes. After three and a half minutes Carina gets the takedown. Rosi works a rubber guard and manages to pull of an armbar for the tap! (Eddie Bravo post is 3…2…1….) Seriously another manuever that is worthy of the rewind button. Final match of the night is Amanda Buckner and Julie Kedzie. Four fights in a one hour program? Props to Bodog for doing that. And the commercials were actual commercials with commercials breaks, so I was expecting them. Amanda and Julie are two of the top fighters around. Amanda has been a mainstay of the grappling circuit for sometime and took a loss in one of the most entertaining fights of 2006 against Tara LaRosa (a fight which got Tara female of the year honors from OTM) You may remember Julie Kedzie from the showstealing bout with Gina Carano at Elite XC. Three of the wins on her record came in won night as she emerged the champion at a Hooknshoot show (which commentater Jeff Osborne produces). There are a few pictures of Julie dolled up on this very website, just hit refresh a couple of times and she should appear in a camo OTM top. Kid Peligro comes on again and lets us know that Amanda is “good” standing up and “good” on the ground. Just having some “good” fun with you Kid, I know all too well how the TV edit monster works. According to Jeff Osborne Julie Kedzie’s nickname is the “cheerleader on crack”, which is now my all time favorite nickname. Did I mention how much I like the commentary team? Jeff declares that Amanda’s record “kind of like a bikini. It shows a lot but doesn’t show you everything.” Lon has a laugh along with me on this comment. Amanada powers Julie down to the mat and uses a heavy pressure side control to get to mount. Julie escapes and Amanda stands up. As Julie attempts to get to her feet Amanda blasts her in the face and then catches her in a guillotine for the tap. Even Calvin Ayre and his harem have to stand up to applaud Amanda’s performance. Good fights, good production, fighters getting paid and it’s free to watch; I recommend checking out Bodog Fights. If you missed it on Ion or don’t have a Tivo like I do I understand you watch the fights on www.Bodogfights.com I suggest checking it out. THe women have definitely arrived in MMA.