Fans have anticipated a fight between Cyborg and Gina Carano since July 2008 when Cyborg demolished Shayna Baszler. A little over a year later, it’s finally happening, and despite promotional hiccups the fight is building steam. I fully expect it to earn the best Strikeforce rating yet on Showtime, and it may even eclipse the Showtime record set by Kimbo Slice and Tank Abbott.
Skeptics of women’s MMA argue that if Cyborg wins the sport is dead. They couldn’t be further from the truth. It would be a very temporary setback in a sport where new girls get into gyms across the country every day to train to be professional fighters. There will be a wave of new girls ready to compete in a few years as a result of Gina Carano’s success, and that wave will bring the sport to new heights.
Regardless of the result, the sport of women’s MMA will be fine. If Cyborg wins she’ll be a star, and Gina will surely fight her way back to an even bigger rematch. If Gina wins, it’s on to the next contender while Cyborg builds herself back up for a rematch. The fact that this fight would be so big was not inevitable, nobody in the U.S. really knew Cyborg before she killed Shayna Baszler. All it took was a dominant performance with Gina at ringside to get fans salivating for a big fight. There will be other girls.
Creating female stars is key for Strikeforce, because the UFC is capable of stealing all the male stars they make with the exception of Fedor. Most fighters want to be in the UFC, and Zuffa will surely make big offers to guys like Jake Shields when their contracts come up. They won’t do the same for the women, which gives Strikeforce a unique opportunity to build a division free from interference.