(Cyborg, reppin’ her set. Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle.)

Not only did Cristiane "Cris Cyborg" Santos‘s drubbing of Gina Carano at the last Strikeforce event bring heaps of attention to women’s MMA, but it also made Chute Boxe relevant again. Though the Brazilian fight camp used to be a fearsome presence in the PRIDE era, it fell out of favor as its biggest stars all left to start their own teams. Now, Cris Cyborg is one of the most compelling champions in the sport, and Chute Boxe founder Rudimar Fedrigo is rewarding her with her own school. As he told Portal das Lutas:

Could we see a rebirth of Chute Boxe’s axe-murdering brawl-’til-you-fall style in the U.S.? And with Cris Cyborg as the face of the camp in America, will other female fighters be lured to Chute Boxe? No American MMA team is specifically known for producing great women fighters. It’ll be interesting to see if the Cyborgs recognize this opportunity and seize it.

(Props: cnovs13 via Moth2Flame)

When you watch this video of Cristiane "Cris Cyborg" Santos going through some caveman-style training at Advanced Human Movement, you don’t see a woman who’s on the verge of calling for her mommy. Cyborg is a physical dynamo. Check out the 2:39 mark, where she repeatedly picks up her husband Evangelista with a bungee rope harnessed to her back. I don’t know if I could even do that once, and I outweigh Cyborg by a solid 20 pounds of stomach fat. It’s no wonder why the Brazilian is a betting favorite by as much as -200. Anybody plan on taking Gina Carano in this one?

After the jump: Fabricio Werdum gets in a workout at AHM. Werdum will be facing despicable cheater Mike Kyle on the undercard of "Carano vs. Cyborg."

(Props: MMAFightGirls)

From Wednesday’s taping of the 2009 ESPY awards; the face of women’s MMA still cleans up real nice. Woefully uninformed sports site InGameNow.com labeled that last pic "Gina Carano and bodyguard" — though maybe Carano will need one when she meets Cris Cyborg in their Strikeforce title fight on August 15th…

("Ho. Ree. Shit.")

Two comments in particular made us LOFL this week, earning their authors Hall of Fame shirts from our dwindling supply. (Get ‘em while they’re still outdated!) Coincidentally, they were both Cris Cyborg-related…

Dubbs on "Exclusive Photos: ‘Carano vs. Cyborg’ Press Conference in New York City":
IMG_1038: Basic Instinct meets The Crying Game.

PurplePickle on "Kit Cope Says He Has a Gina Carano Sex Tape, Continues to Be a Total Asshole":
I don’t know about this Gina sex tape shit, but I had one of Cyborg Santos on Tivo. It showed Cyborg totally raping the shit out of this little Japanese girl for like nine whole minutes. If you look closely in the background you could see Josh Barnett yelling and cheering. It was fucking sick I tell you. I can’t believe they showed that shit on Showtime. Sad times we live in, sad times.

If you won, please send your name, address, and shirt size to feedback@cagepotato.com. We’ll be passing along your addresses to Mrs. Santos, because she told us she’d really like to visit you guys sometime. How exciting!

ALSO: "Ben vs. Ben" hits the airwaves later today for an encore performance on SIRIUS Fight Club (channel 127, or 104 for XM subscribers), beginning at 6 p.m. ET. Join us as we discuss the major themes coming out of UFC 100′s aftermath, as well as how much Gina Carano’s aforementioned sex tape would be worth to us, hypothetically speaking.

Gina Carano vs. Cris Cyborg Press Conference – Watch more Funny Videos

As promised, here are some of the memorable moments from yesterday’s "Carano vs. Cyborg" press conference in New York. To summarize:

0:00-1:34: Gina Carano and Cris Cyborg are introduced and brought on stage. Cris gives Gina the cold shoulder when she tries to make eye contact.

1:35-3:09: Gina makes some opening remarks and talks about having Randy Couture as a mentor.

3:10-5:13: Cyborg makes some opening remarks, thanks her husband Evangelista for helping her train, and talks about what she expects in the fight.

5:14-5:51: Responding to a question about how the fight is being marketed with Gina’s beauty, Cyborg acknowledges that MMA writers have been referring to this fight as "Beauty and the Beast," but that doesn’t bother her because it won’t matter during the fight. Ouch. Sorry, Cris.

(Click all images for larger versions.)

The WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden hosted a press conference this afternoon to promote Strikeforce’s upcoming "Carano vs. Cyborg" mega-card in San Jose on August 15th. I was there pretending to be a journalist and snapping pics with my trusty PowerShot. Video highlights will come later, but first I’d like to share some photos of the two headliners, the bright ‘n’ shiny belt they’ll be fighting for, and the half-cage that Strikeforce set up outside the building for a public open workout. All I’ll say for now is that Gina had better come prepared, because Cristiane Santos is looking yoked.

(Cristiane "Cris Cyborg" Santos tosses around her 200-pound husband during a Showtime photoshoot. Click all images for larger versions. Photos courtesy of sports.sho.com via Fightlinker.)

MMA Junkie passes along some details on the August 15th Strikeforce title fight between Gina Carano (7-0) and Cristiane "Cris Cyborg" Santos (7-1), informing us that the match is scheduled for five three-minute rounds, and will be contested at a weight of 145 pounds. So in other words, women can fight for 15 minutes just like the boys, as long as it’s in the context of a blockbuster title fight. (Yay, equality!)

Of course, that "145" is the more troubling number when it comes to these two. Cyborg famously came in seven pounds over the 145-pound limit for her last fight against Hitomi Akano, while Carano’s long history of scale fails include weighing in at 144.5 for a 140-pound fight against Kaitlin Young, and the infamous naked-behind-a-towel situation prior to her scrap with Kelly Kobold in October. While Cyborg blamed "woman problems" for missing weight, Carano probably should have been competing at 145 all along — though after a 10-month layoff, missing weight again is always a possibility. Good luck to both of these dangerous, water-retaining warriors.

"Carano vs. Cyborg" will be held at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California; tickets go on sale this Monday.

(Something tells me Cyborg is going to be played up as the villain in this one.)

After months of angling and negotiating, the highly anticipated bout between Gina Carano and Cristiane "Cris Cyborg" Santos has been set for the main event of Strikeforce’s August 15th event in San Jose, as was announced during the broadcast of "Lawler vs. Shields." Now, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker has confirmed that the match will crown an official female champion for the organization:

(Note to self: Don’t fuck with Cyborg when she’s on the rag. Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

Just in case you’ve forgotten about the Cris Cyborg weight-fiasco at Saturday’s Strikeforce show, Josh Barnett has taken to his MySpace blog to remind you that we shouldn’t let Santos slide so easily (props to FightOpinion for the tip):

(Step 1: Do work. Step 2: Receive bread. Photo courtesy of this set on Sherdog.)

The California State Athletic Commission has released payout figures for Saturday’s Strikeforce event, with headliner Frank Shamrock taking home a full 58% of the $633,445 disclosed payroll. And it looks like Strikeforce had to severely underpay a few of its fighters to make up for F-Sham’s hefty purse. Also, they don’t seem to like round numbers. The salaries are below, with some thoughts after the jump…

MAIN CARD FIGHTERS
– Frank Shamrock: $369,790
– Scott Smith: $49,940 (includes $25,000 win bonus)
– Gilbert Melendez: $49,890 (no win bonus)
– Nick Diaz: $39,950 (includes $10,000 win bonus)
– Brett Rogers: $39,940 (includes $20,000 win bonus)
– Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos: $18,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus)
– Benji Radach: $16,940
– Rodrigo Damm: $9,190
– Ron "Abongo" Humphries: $3,205
– Hitomi Akano: $1,450 (doesn’t include undisclosed extra cash from 11th-hour negotiations)

PRELIMINARY CARD FIGHTERS
– Luke Rockhold: $6,000 (includes $3,000 win bonus) def. Buck Meredith $1,540
– Eric Lawson $9,950 (includes $2,000 win bonus) def. Waylon Kennell $1,950
– Raul Castillo $6,890 (includes $3,500 win bonus) def. Brandon Michaels $1,500
– James Terry $3,940 (includes $2,000 win bonus) def. Zak Bucia $1,500
– Shingo Kohara $940 (no win bonus) def. Jeremy Tavares $940

(Nick Diaz vs. Frank Shamrock, round 1)

(Nick Diaz vs. Frank Shamrock, round 2)

("Y’know, I used to box a little myself. Say, do you party?" Photo courtesy of this great set on allelbows.)

If not for Cris Cyborg’s woman-problems fiasco, last night’s Strikeforce show would have been an unequivocal success. There were memorable knockouts, brilliant performances (we take back every bad thing we ever said about you, Nick), and one fight (Smith vs. Radach) that will probably make year-end lists as one of the best matches of 2009. Here are some of the stories coming out of the event…

— "Shamrock vs. Diaz" pulled in 15,211 fans for an estimated live gate of $750,000. Said Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker: "We scaled the tickets back for the economy to make it affordable…We tried to be considerate and make it affordable for everybody. Would we like to scale (up) the prices and bring in more revenue? There will be a time for that. We’ll keep building it."

— In the post-event press conference, Coker stated that he’d like to put together the much-anticipated bout between Gina Carano and Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos for Strikeforce’s August event, and said it would be for "our first Strikeforce female title belt." As for the ongoing contract talks with Gina Carano, Coker said, "We’re currently negotiating the final touches of this contract. Hopefully we’ll get it to bed here in the next two weeks or a week. I think we’re very close."

— Also during the press-conference, recent Strikeforce signee Fabricio Werdum said that he’d like to be a future opponent for Alistair Overeem; Werdum previously submitted Overeem via kimura at PRIDE Total Elimination Absolute in May 2006. Said Werdum: "I’m going to take the other arm home. And then the third time it’s going to be hard to fight with no arms at all." Overlooked once again, Brett Rogers said "Before everybody walks away, I mean I wouldn’t mind fighting Overeem. That would be nice right there." Awww, of course it would, big guy!

We’ve spent a lot of time analyzing Strikeforce’s main event this Saturday, but we’re honestly just as psyched to see the return of Chute Boxe rising star Cristiane "Cris Cyborg" Santos. When she steps into the cage against "Girlfight Monster" on Saturday, it could be one more step towards the fight that everybody wants to see — Cyborg vs. Carano. Get reacquainted with Santos’s body of work through the above highlight video, where she beats on some poor Brazilian girls as if they were rented redheaded stepchildren.

After the jump: TheGarv has found a complete version of the new James Toback documentary Tyson, which doesn’t hit theaters until later this month. We don’t expect it to be up for long, so take a look now because it’s required viewing. Did you know that Iron Mike was burnin’ with the gonorrhea when he fought Trevor Burbick? You do now!

(Cris Cyborg [right] with former victim Shayna Baszler. Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

From a new press release sent out by Strikeforce:

(“Yeah man, so this is like, one of the *actual tires* that came off of Rampage’s truck. No shit. Got it off Craigslist.” Photo of The Grim by Esther Lin.)

Nick Diaz and Brett Rogers won’t be sitting on their hands waiting for their arch-rivals KJ Noons and Kimbo Slice to become available — MMA Junkie reports that both fighters have been scheduled to appear at EliteXC’s November 8th event, which will be broadcast on Showtime. Their opponents haven’t been announced yet, but EliteXC’s Jared Shaw confirmed that Joey Villasenor will also be part of the event; rumor has it that he could face Robbie Lawler for the middleweight title.

Speaking of the Showtime card, FiveOuncesofPain reports that EliteXC wants to add Eddie Alvarez to the lineup, and build up to a fight for the vacated lightweight title if him and Nick Diaz win their fights and KJ Noons continues to be a problem. Side note: Before Diaz competes again for EliteXC, he’ll head to Japan to battle Hayato “Mach” Sakurai at DREAM.6 (September 23rd; Saitama, Japan) for DREAM’s welterweight title. In other EliteXC news…

— A fight between Cristiane “Cris Cyborg” Santos and Yoko Takahashi has been officially added to the undercard of Saturday Night Fights III on October 4th. If time permits, the match will be shown on the broadcast on a tape-delay basis. Cyborg vows to improve on her last performance by knocking Takahashi out three times in the first round.

— EliteXC’s heavyweight champ Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva has released a longer statement about his steroid bust. Some highlights:

(Please Cyborg don’t hurt ‘em.)

Chute Boxe coach Rafael Cordeiro has confirmed to Tatame that Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos will compete next at EliteXC’s third CBS card (October 4th; Fort Lauderdale, FL) against “Yoki Takarashi.” Bloody Elbow is re-translating that as Yoko Takahashi, a 13-9-1 vet of Smackgirl, DEEP, and Fatal Femmes Fighting. She most recently fought Mika Hayashi to a draw at last Saturday’s DEEP Megaton GP Finals.

Though she said she didn’t know who her next opponent would be during a recent interview with Sherdog, Santos provided some insight on EliteXC’s plans for her:

“[I]f Carano and I win, people will be expecting our fight and we will have to face each other. The event should start marketing for it and we should be facing each other on the pay-per-view by the end of the year. [ed. note: Most reports say that EliteXC's first PPV show will actually take place in early '09.]

…

I think everybody wants to watch this fight. I’ll keep on training, I’ll win my fights and I’ll be very well prepared, just waiting for the right time to come. It will be inevitable. She will have to face me sooner or later. I’m waiting for her.”

Fortunately, Carano has a “let’s do this” attitude in regards to Cyborg. And if EliteXC manages to generate a few more matchups with a similar amount of heat behind them, their first pay-per-view card could help turn their financial fortunes around. Nick Diaz vs. KJ Noons? Robbie Lawler vs. Frank Shamrock? Kimbo Slice vs. Bo Cantrell II?

(There’s really no reason for us to post this picture except that holy shit is Cris Cyborg terrifying.)

From an amusing new press release just sent out by Spike TV:

SPIKE TV’S RE-BROADCAST OF UFC 84 DRAWS MORE YOUNG MEN THAN A LIVE PRO ELITEXC CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHT ON CBS

Need proof the UFC is the preeminent mixed martial arts brand in the world? On Saturday, July 26, more men 18-34 watched a repeat…a repeat…of a UFC event on Spike TV than a LIVE telecast of a Pro EliteXC championship card on CBS. Despite being available in over 17 million more homes [ed. note: I think they mean over 17 million less homes?], Spike TV drew 27% more Men 18-34 for a re-broadcast of “UFC 84: Penn vs. Sherk” from (9:00-12:00am ET/PT) than CBS’s live show (9:00-11:00pm). Spike TV’s telecast tallied 433,000 Men 18-34 to CBS’s 341,000.

Overall, “UFC 84: Penn vs. Sherk” drew higher ratings than Pro EliteXC in Men 18-49 (1.5 to 1.3) and Men 18-34 (1.5 and 1.0).

Reminiscent of the XFL’s rating collapse years ago, the CBS telecast was 69% lower in Men 18-34 and 57% lower with Men 18-49 than its initial broadcast on CBS in May featuring the “He Hate Me” of MMA, Kimbo Slice.

Garbling the competition’s name as “Pro EliteXC” is an awesomely passive aggressive touch, as is comparing EliteXC to the ill-fated XFL. We’re not sure what’s up with referring to Kimbo as “He Hate Me,” though it sounds vaguely racist, and Spike Lee is probably preparing an infringement lawsuit as we speak.

Anyway, sending out a press release on your competition’s weak ratings is a barrel of laughs, but maybe the joke’s on Spike.

(Shayna Baszler: ready for battle.)

EliteXC sent out a press release yesterday announcing the full televised card for their second “Saturday Night Fights” event, which will be held in Stockton, CA, on July 26th. The most notable addition is a 140-pound bout between Shayna Baszler and Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos, which will open the CBS broadcast. Baszler (9-4, all wins by submission) last fought at a ShoXC event in April, where she finished Keiko “Tama Chan” Tamai via first-round neck crank; she also holds notable wins over Julie Kedzie, Roxanne Modafferi, and Jennifer Tate. Santos, the wife of Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos, is 4-0, though her last three wins came against opponents with pro records of 0-0.

The other notable bit of information in the press release is that the match between Antonio “Big Foot” Silva and Justin Eilers will indeed be for EliteXC’s heavyweight title, and it will headline the live three-fight Showtime broadcast that will immediately precede the CBS card. The Showtime card will also feature a featherweight bout between Brian Caraway — who defeated Alvin Cacdac just 12 days ago at Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Thomson — against up-and-coming submission specialist Wilson Reis. The full televised lineup is below:

Saturday Night Fights on CBS, 9-11 p.m. ET/PT
Robbie Lawler vs. Scott Smith (for EliteXC middleweight title)
Jake Shields vs. Nick Thompson (for EliteXC welterweight title)
Nick Diaz vs. Thomas Denny (lightweights)
Shayna Baszler vs. Cristiane Santos (140 lbs.)

Showtime undercard broadcast, 8-9 p.m. ET/PT
Antonio Silva vs. Justin Eilers (for EliteXC heavyweight title)
Wilson Reis vs. Brian Caraway (140 lbs.)
Rafael Feijao vs. TBD (light-heavyweights)