From what I can tell, people who attended Strikeforce live loved the main event, while those watching at home saw it as the one-sided beating that it truly was. I attended the show live myself, and knew within about 30 seconds that Gina would need a miracle to win. There’s something about a fighter’s body language after they get hit that says a lot, and I think her body slumped more out of exasperation than exhaustion.
Gina really lost this fight in the clinch, which is where she needed to be successful to win. In order to beat Cyborg, she had to withstand 2 rounds of hell and take it later. One of the keys to that was tying her up to avoid a beating, but as soon as she started reverting to headlocks I knew it was a matter of time. She almost got that miracle when she ended up in full mount, but a split second decision to give that up was a costly error. She almost certainly would not have won from there, but it was a good opportunity to get a breather and lean on Cyborg a bit, and she passed on it.
From a live atmosphere perspective, few fights I’ve attended have ever garnered this kind of crowd response. I’ve been to a lot of UFC events, and the only thing that was hotter live was Brock-Randy. Unfortunately, most women’s MMA discussions end up focusing on the future of the sport and whether there’s anything there besides Gina. For a round, about 15,000 people were absolutely losing their minds for a fight that featured a woman they wanted to win against a woman they wanted to lose. In a little over two years, it’s a hell of an accomplishment for Gina, who carried the sport to this point.
They’ve made a great pick with Marlos Coenen for the next title shot, but the big challenge for Strikeforce is creating stars. Part of making stars is insisting upon it, making women’s title matches main events even when they don’t feature Gina Carano. Cyborg has great charisma of her own and is eminently marketable, but Strikeforce showed little sign in the build to this fight that they know how to do it.
I like the idea of doing tournaments at 145 and 135. The key thing is to get a number of girls on TV and let them sort themselves out. Putting Gina in the tournament would be insane, they obviously should not do that, but the tournament format may do more to create stars than Coker can do on his own over the course of a year.
My guess is the fight last night broke the Showtime MMA record, and Cyborg will be able to defend her title in the main event or co-main event of Showtime shows for some time to come. Gina can main event any Showtime show without a title, and co-main CBS shows as well. I think people should step back, breathe a bit, and realize that the girls aren’t going anywhere, and that Gina’s loss won’t kill the sport.
— photo by Esther Lin.