That sound you heard during the final few seconds of the first round in Strikeforce’s first female main event fight was Gina Carano’s skull changing shape under the pressure of repeated blows from Brazilian powerhouse Cris “Cyborg” Santos. She overwhelmed Carano with her strength from the opening moments on the bout and, despite two completely failed takedown attempts that succeeded only in pulling Carano on top of her, she managed to keep things mostly on the feet where she had a clear advantage.
After hurting Carano several times with some big bombs, she really poured it on in the last ten seconds of the first round after passing Carano’s half-guard. As Gina lay curled up in tight little ball against the fence waiting for it to be over, Santos unleashed a vicious flurry of unanswered right hands. Stopping the fight at that point was clearly the right decision, as Carano was far from being able to ask referee Josh Rosenthal what the fuck his problem was.
Afterwards Scott Coker did his best to pretend that he was just fine with Cyborg winning, suggesting there were plenty of promotional opportunities for her, such as telling women’s magazines about her workout plan. Because doesn’t every woman want to look like Cyborg Santos?
Meanwhile, the other women in the hunt are calling ‘next’ on both Santos and Carano, with Golden Glory fighter Marloes Coenen saying she’ll get the first shot at the new champ, maybe by the end of the year.
In other action on the night…
– Gilbert Melendez was clearly only worried about Mitsuhiro Ishida’s takedowns and nothing else, as he picked him apart on the feet from a stance designed to thwart the shot and make a mockery of his opponent’s ability to do damage on the feet. The plan worked, as Melendez stopped Ishida’s takedowns down the stretch and gradually wore him down with striking before finishing him with strikes from back control at 3:56 of round 3.
– Fabricio Werdum and Mike Kyle both started fast in their heavyweight bout, but after a little ground-and-pound from inside Kyle’s guard Werdum eventually locked up a guillotine and tapped Kyle at 1:24 of round 1. Naturally, Werdum now says he’s ready for Fedor. Nothing proves that like beating Mike Kyle.
– As we expected, Jay Hieron rode to a decision victory over Jesse Taylor after three rounds. If only someone who will not be named had taken and passed a drug test, that wouldn’t have been necessary.
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You mean her face has always looked like that? Jeepers!!