Gina Carano vs Cris Cyborg This Saturday

Saturday night is a historic night for mixed martial arts as Strikeforce puts on the first female superfight in the history of the sport. Women’s MMA has been around for a long long time, but this marks the first time that a fight featuring females will headline a major promotion’s event.

Gina Carano and Cris Cyborg - Image: Showtime Sports

The fight in question is Gina Carano versus Cris ‘Cyborg’ Santos. Gina as a former muay thai fighter turned mixed martial artists who some of you might recognize from her time on the new American Gladiators show where she played ‘Crush’. Cris Cyborg is the most feared female in mixed martial arts … a muscled beast of a woman from Brazil who has won five of her seven MMA fights via knockout. The two will be squaring off for the Strikeforce 145-pound title in a fight that many have been anticipating for over a year.

The two originally circled each other in the now-defunct EliteXC league where Gina proved herself as a ratings powerhouse and Cyborg burned through the division with ease. The company folded before a fight could be set up, but Strikeforce stepped in and picked up both women’s contracts. This Saturday at 10pm on Showtime, the two will face off in what has been dubbed ‘Beauty and the Beast’ by many in the media.

Also on the card is a fight between former UFC light heavyweight contender Babalu Sobral and rising star Gegard Mousasi. Babalu was cut from the UFC after refusing to release a chokehold on a tapping opponent and has gone 4-0 since then with wins over Bobby Southworth (for the Strikeforce light heavyweight belt) and Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou. Gegard Mousasi is possibly the hottest prospect in mixed martial arts right now, coming into the event with a 12 fight win streak. He just won the DREAM middleweight tournament in Japan, a kickboxing bout against K-1 star Musashi, and then knocked out a super-heavyweight Mark Hunt for good measure.

Also on the televised portion of the card, Jesse Taylor (best known for getting kicked off the 7th season of The Ultimate Fighter) will face Jay Heiron, and Gilbert Melendez and Mitsuhiro Ishida will have a rematch for the Strikeforce lightweight belt. All in all it’s a great night of fights and it’s free if you get Showtime. Yeah, that’s like saying ‘It’s free if you pay 5 bucks’, but when you’re an MMA fan, getting events for less than 40 bucks is cause for excitement.

As mentioned yesterday, the UFC is trying to crush this card by replaying UFC 100 on Spike the same night, so if you don’t get Showtime or just wanna bounce back and forth between events, that is also an option.