Debi “Whiplash” Purcell works fanatically on her fighting skills everyday from her Orange County base.

It seems like she’s been fighting a lifetime.

For more than 16 years, Purcell has pummeled mitts, kicked heavy bags and worked on jiu-jitsu and grappling moves. That time span represents more than half of her life. Yet, she has only five professional MMA battles in her career.

“Yeah, but there were about 32 fights that fell out. I trained just as hard for those as the fights that actually took place,” said Purcell (4-1) who’s trained by Marco Ruas. “It’s part of being a professional.”

That typifies the state of MMA for women during the past 15 years: train and hope a fight follows through.

Not any more.

Purcell is one of a few thousand female MMA fighters that see a new dawn for their part in the sport. The sudden MMA tidal wave for men has also carried women in its wake of popularity in the 21^st century.

Tom Casino / EliteXC Gina Carano has become the biggest name in women's MMA, but there are many others hoping to make a name for themselves.

“Do women belong in MMA, yes, absolutely,” says promoter Gary Shaw, whose EliteXC signed Gina Carano, a Las Vegas fighter featured in a Showtime bout last year. “We have a great interest in women fighters.”

EliteXC recently signed a deal with CBS to showcase MMA four events on the network this year beginning on May 31. Featured will be several of its major stars and will also include a female contest as well.

So where do you find the women fighters?

Recently in Los Angeles, Fatal Femmes Fighting championship staged its fourth show behind promoter Jackie Kallen, including several female fighters from other countries like Japan and Brazil. Despite a medium turnout in the massive Shrine Expo, the actual contests between women were furious.

“I didn’t expect the women to be this skillful,” said Richard Lawrence, a USC student who witnessed his first female MMA card. “Surprising.”

It didn’t happen overnight.

Many of the new wave of fighters come from a boxing or kickboxing background and have piggy-backed on their standup fighting skills by adding chokeholds and wrestling takedowns to their arsenal.

Straddling both worlds
This Sunday in Irvine, California, former two-time world champion boxer Wendy Rodriguez takes off her boxing boots to go barefoot in the cage for the first time in her professional fight career.

Though she hasn’t surrendered her zeal for boxing, Rodriguez eagerly adds MMA to her resume.

“I just love fighting,” said Rodriguez, 29, who studied jiu-jitsu for five years and began working on kickboxing the past year. “It’s a challenge and I love challenges.”

She’s not the only pro boxer straddling both pro fight worlds.

Erin Toughill has traveled both roads for a number of years. Last year Elena “Baby Doll” Reid and Mia St. John, two world champions in boxing, also jumped into the cage.

Reid said the lack of fights in the boxing world prompted her to pursue MMA and now she trains at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas.

“I wouldn’t say we have a lot of women at Xtreme Couture, but we do have a handful,” said Reid, 26, victorious in her first MMA fight. She regularly works with Carano and more recently has worked with Kim Couture, the wife of superstar legend Randy Couture.

Kim Couture fought last weekend in Portland, Oregon and captured her first victory in the third round with a ground and pound attack.

“It was a great experience,” said Couture, who had been practicing martial arts for three years before meeting her husband. “I definitely want to continue.”

With more women partaking in Tae-bo, jiu-jitsu and boxing as a means of keeping fit, more than a few are drifting into competition throughout the nation, if not the world.

The lack of female participants has hurt combat sports in the past, but now there seems to be a burgeoning number of willing students.

“We’re working on getting more women here,” Couture said.

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