Gina Carano vs Cris Cyborg is official
June 22, 2009 by Ryan Harkness
Filed under MMA-UFC
The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale wasn’t the only MMA event on over the weekend. Strikeforce, a California promotion that has recently grown to a national scale with Showtime and NBC TV deals, had an event on Friday night as well. In addition to some great fights, the promotion officially announced the first female superfight in the history of mixed martial arts: Gina Carano versus Cris Cyborg on August 15th.
Gina Carano - Image: Zuma Press
Dubbed ‘Beauty and the Beast’ by some of the less politically correct press, the fight will be for the newly created Strikeforce 145 pound championship and is five 5-minute rounds. This is a pretty big deal since until recently most women’s matches have been 3-minute rounds. Why? Because women are clearly inferior. Please note that this statement is drowning in pissed off sarcasm … there’s very few things I hate more than the bias and sexism that sometimes pervades the mixed martial arts world.
Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock or are just getting into this MMA thing, you’ve probably already heard of Gina Carano. She’s a kickboxing beauty that actually lives up to the majority of her hype. She may not be the best female fighter in the world, but she’s one of the best and by far the most popular – imagine Chuck Liddell but with a great personality. Sorry Chuck, but you’re pretty wooden.
Cris Cyborg is like a female Wanderlei Silva, and she’s got the aggression to match. There is no woman out there right now as physically intimidating as her. She’s got muscles on her muscles and uses them to smash her opponents’ faces in. She is by far the most dangerous opponent Gina has ever faced, which is why this fight is so exciting. Add in the fact that both fighters are known for their exciting style and the media attention that follows Gina everywhere, and this fight could very well cause women’s MMA to explode.
While women usually steal the show, technically and in representation they are inferior. Proof, just see Kim Coutures last opponent, who was literally running away and turning her back during the fight.
Other than Gina, Cyborg and less than a handful of others there are no top level fighters.
Betting MMA – Kim Couture was 0-1 when Strikeforce signed her and they only signed her because she was the wife of Randy Couture. She is an amateur and it’s not surprising her fight (and the opponent they found for her to beat – who was a chain smoker!) looked amateur. I have not been very happy with Strikeforce as they often book fighters based on looks rather than skill, and this is why many aren’t impressed with the skill level we’re seeing.
There are TONS of amazing female fighters out there who have been fighting for years and who are just as skilled as their male counterparts. If you want to see a few, look up the following women on youtube: Megumi Fujii, Roxanne Modafferi, Tara LaRosa, Amanda Buckner, Lisa Ward, Shayna Baszler, Marloes Coenen … the list goes on and on and on.