Gina Carano vs Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos Strikeforce 8/15/9

[sanjuro_ronin]

On that night, Gina got beat by a better fighter, period.

[monji112000]

On that night, Gina got beat by a better fighter, period.

Did anyone really think Gina was going to beat Cyborg? Honestly I never for one moment thought it was going to go any other way. It seems to me that people who were sure Gina was going to win, made that decision based on how she looks.
its not a bikini contest, its a fight. That being said I really would have enjoyed it more if they were topless. Just kidding I enjoy female MMA. I hope this is going to be a permanent part of showtime MMA. if so I will order showtime...

[MasterKiller]

the whole thing look weird why the hell would you give up the mount?you dont have to do bjj to know being on top of somebody is a good thing lol

Santos shrimped and threw Gina off her base. Instead of fighting to keep the mount, she just stood up, which was probably her game plan because Santos is better on the ground.

[monji112000]

Santos shrimped and threw Gina off her base. Instead of fighting to keep the mount, she just stood up, which was probably her game plan because Santos is better on the ground.

it was the tactical thing to do. If she would have ended up on the bottom, it would have been a far worse choice.

[taai gihk yahn]

On that night, Gina got beat by a better fighter, period.

do you mean to suggest that on a different night she might be the better fighter? seriously; do you think she ever could beat Santos, and if so, under what circumstances? what would Carano have to do to be able to do that?

anyone feel free to answer this

personally, I think she would need to cut her hair really short (like crue / spike) and move to Russia to train w/Fedor out in the Siberian taiga...

[monji112000]

do you mean to suggest that on a different night she might be the better fighter? seriously; do you think she ever could beat Santos, and if so, under what circumstances? what would Carano have to do to be able to do that?

anyone feel free to answer this

personally, I think she would need to cut her hair really short (like crue / spike) and move to Russia to train w/Fedor out in the Siberian taiga...

A good boxer could answer this question better than me, but moving and not allowing her aggression to overwhelm her. Keeping Cyborg at a distance.. chopping her down slowly. JMO I honestly though that's what her plan was going into the fight. She seemed real comfortable with the Randy style cage grind.. so maybe working on that more.

[MasterKiller]

A good boxer could answer this question better than me, but moving and not allowing her aggression to overwhelm her. Keeping Cyborg at a distance.. chopping her down slowly. JMO I honestly though that's what her plan was going into the fight. She seemed real comfortable with the Randy style cage grind.. so maybe working on that more.

According to Randy Couture, that was her gameplan; unfortunately for her, Cyborg was more aggressive than they counted on kept closing the distance. At one point, Gina's strikes seemed to be backing Cyborg off, but she failed to follow up witht them and Cyborg regained her confidence.

[GeneChing]

You should have heard that audience. It was *the* loudest roar I've ever heard at an MMA fight, and I was in the house for Shamrock vs. Le.

Could Gina have rallied in round 2 if the ref hadn't called it with one second to go? Cyborg couldn't have got more than another punch or two in during that time. It was clear Gina was trying to hang on for the bell, but there's not much time between rounds to recover.

I'm going to do a little newsfeed surfing and deal with my email (it's Monday after all) then I'll post some more thoughts on the Gina Carano vs Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos (and I'll merge these threads after they die down, just for continuity's sake in the archive.)

One thing I will say now - that was one freaking awesome fight. Both Gina and Cyborg delivered. I was on the edge of my seat for the entire 4:59. There was solid action and some brilliant exchanges. LONG LIVE WOMEN'S MMA!!!

VIVA STRIKEFORCE!!!

[monji112000]

You should have heard that audience. It was *the* loudest roar I've ever heard at an MMA fight, and I was in the house for Shamrock vs. Le.

Could Gina have rallied in round 2 if the ref hadn't called it with one second to go? Cyborg couldn't have got more than another punch or two in during that time. It was clear Gina was trying to hang on for the bell, but there's not much time between rounds to recover.

I'm going to do a little newsfeed surfing and deal with my email (it's Monday after all) then I'll post some more thoughts on the Gina Carano vs Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos (and I'll merge these threads after they die down, just for continuity's sake in the archive.)

One thing I will say now - that was one freaking awesome fight. Both Gina and Cyborg delivered. I was on the edge of my seat for the entire 4:59. There was solid action and some brilliant exchanges. LONG LIVE WOMEN'S MMA!!!

VIVA STRIKEFORCE!!!

I have to agree I loved the fight. I really hope this is a big push for women's MMA in strikeforce. In my honest opinion the ref clearly made the correct decision.. Sure he could have let it go another round but Gina was not defending, and it looked very bad. The round was over.. but the fight was over too. sorry Gene maybe a rematch?? who is on the card for the next strike force? any female fights?

[Lindley]

The fight was more competitive then the reports listed it. Each was firing away. Gina can definitely come back. The problem likely was that part of her life is being "the face of Female MMA". This takes out time, serious time, for training and studying your opponent. She has a lot of skills and just needs time to hone in on a better game plan. Santos was the hungrier fighter that night and had less distractions. And it is likely that Gina was illusioned by earlier wins because she could recover from mistakes more easily against lesser opponents.

[sanjuro_ronin]

A good boxer could answer this question better than me, but moving and not allowing her aggression to overwhelm her. Keeping Cyborg at a distance.. chopping her down slowly. JMO I honestly though that's what her plan was going into the fight. She seemed real comfortable with the Randy style cage grind.. so maybe working on that more.

That works IF the boxer in question, for example, has strikes fast or powerful enough to keep the opponent "at bay" or at least "earn" their respect.
I am sure that Gina hurt her, just not enough to keep her from coming in.
You need to make a aggressive fighter PAY every time they close that gap, Gina didn't do that.

[monji112000]

That works IF the boxer in question, for example, has strikes fast or powerful enough to keep the opponent "at bay" or at least "earn" their respect.
I am sure that Gina hurt her, just not enough to keep her from coming in.
You need to make a aggressive fighter PAY every time they close that gap, Gina didn't do that.

I follow what your saying 100%. it seemed like for a moment she was getting that game plan to work.. but in the end it wasn't her day.

[sanjuro_ronin]

It seemed that Cyborg (what a silly name) had it in her mind to take it to her and end if fast, she was probably surprised a bit when Gina connected and Probably take aback slightly at her power, maybe more than she expected, though not enough to change the inevitable outcome.

[SoCo KungFu]

do you mean to suggest that on a different night she might be the better fighter? seriously; do you think she ever could beat Santos, and if so, under what circumstances? what would Carano have to do to be able to do that?

anyone feel free to answer this

personally, I think she would need to cut her hair really short (like crue / spike) and move to Russia to train w/Fedor out in the Siberian taiga...

For starters she could put her heart into her training instead of posing drunk on a bed with a bunch of other girls (not that I didn't enjoy the pictures)

But she was making the same Gina mistakes. There were at least 4 times she had a WIDE open shot at Cyborg's chin but she missed, repeatedly. Cuz she once again fell into looping her punches instead of shooting em right down the barrel. And she needs to work her ground game. In the other fights she's gotten with subpar ground because she was bigger than her opponents. I always thought that when she faced a larger fighter her ground was going to get exposed.

[GeneChing]

For anyone who hasn't been to a live MMA fight, I totally encourage you to go. There's nothing like that roar of the crowd, nothing like being at a live sporting event.

Get there early to catch the undercard. The undercard fights can often be the most entertaining. Besides, you want to get the most from your ticket, so you're not going to want to miss the undercard.

There were 5 undercard fights for Carano vs. Cyborg

Alex "Spider" Torino def. Isiah Hill by submission.
I think this was RD 1 @ 3:15 by a keylock. Honestly, I wasn't that focused on this fight. Spider had fans with these bright pink spider shirts. That distracted me.

James Terry def. Zac Bucia RD 1 @ 1:23
This was a rematch from Shamrock vs. Diaz and far more decisive. Terry took out Bucia with a spectacular kick, dropping him like a sack of potatoes. It's a particularly interesting match up for us because Terry is from Cung Le's gym and Bucia is from Dragonhouse - Zhong Luo's gym.

Justin "The Silverback" Wilcox def. David "Tarzan" Douglas RD 3 @ 3:16 by RNC
Something about Tarzan vs. the Silverback amused me. After some brutal exchanges in RD 1, the bout turned out to be mostly wrestling with Douglas on top with the ol' G&P. The RNC was nicely executed.

Scott Lightly def. Mike Cook RD1 @ 2:05 TKO
This was ended quick with a beautiful punch to the midsection. Cook stopped, shook his head in disbelief, and took another shot to the head before the ref could stop his acknowledgment. What a punch. BAM!

Jay “The Thoroughbred’’ Hieron def. Jesse Taylor unanimous decision
This was the only fight that went the distance this night. In fact, most of the fights didn't even clear RD 1, much to the chagrin of Silent Assassin, who was our photographer and hoping to shoot some ring girls.