Saturday’s Strikeforce MMA event could prove to be a very important night, historically speaking.

For the first time in mixed martial arts a high profile event was headlined by a women’s match.

And what a match it was.

Not content with merely being a part of history, Gina Carano & Cris ‘Cyborg’ Santos went into that cage to fight.

I won't say who's who, the tattoo gives you a clue.

In what was easily the match of the night they put on a thrilling display of skill, determination and good old fashioned violence. This could not (and should not) be described as “a great match, considering it’s women”, this was simply a great match.

Sure, Renato ‘Babalu’ Sobral vs. Gegard Mousasi was as exciting as it was brief (especially with the quick TKO), and Fabricio Werdum vs. Mike Kyle delivered a nice guillotine submission after a short stand-up scrap, but the only thing coming out of this event that people will really remember is the emergence of women on the big stage as a credible and exciting aspect of the modern MMA game.

It could’ve been a different story, however… 

This show seemed cursed from the start. First of all Joe Riggs pulled out due to an “adverse reaction to a drug”, then Josh Thomson couldn’t compete in his scheduled match due to a “lingering injury”.

Riggs’ original opponent, Nick Diaz, was then denied a license to fight after no-showing a pre-fight drug test. So, while he didn’t fail any drug tests, a no-show is pretty much an admission of either guilt, stupidity or both. Knowing you’re going to fail, especially with Diaz’ long history of smoking weed was probably (for him) a good enough reason not to show up. After all, considering marajuana is out of your system within a month or so it’s not difficult to get the timing right and go into the fight clean. He’s clearly not learned anything since he said “I promise never to do it again” after he was dumb enough to test positive after his victory against Takanori Gomi.

Still, technically all he did was no-show the drug test and, because he wasn’t licensed at the time, he cannot be suspended. All he has to do is wait until he’s booked for his next fight, test clean and he’s effectively side-stepped a potential 6-12 month ban due to testing positive for a banned substance. This is a loophole that needs closing fast.

This incident, while not being the company killer that Josh Barnett’s recent steroid failure proved to be for Affliction, it’s still not ideal for either Diaz or Strikeforce.

If Diaz was a boring fighter who people didn’t care about maybe he’d be fired already. Fortunately for him, however, he’s not. A one-sided pounding of MMA legend Frank Shamrock in April and a similar performance against Scott Smith in June has ensured Diaz’ presence in Strikeforce, at least for the foreseeable future. It also helps that he’s a dick and the audience loves to hate him.

Thankfully, fate (or more likely vigorous weight cutting) decided that Gina Carano didn’t miss weight this time. Historically she’s had difficulty making weight but not this time. The fight was for the 145lb Women’s Title in the division usually referred to as ‘Featherweight’ in the men’s game, although as there are no weight divisions for women in Strikeforce (yet) it’s simply called the ‘Women’s Title’ for now.

If either had missed weight the match would have been switched to a ‘catch weight’ bout (where the participants agree on a weight, irrespective of division limits). If that had happened then the (newly created and vacant) title wouldn’t have been at stake and we wouldn’t have had a champion at the conclusion of the match.

As it turned out though, both made weight and we did have a champion decisively at the end of the match.

The only (small) controversy about the fight is the referee stoppage at 4:59 of the first round. Although the official time of the match was 4:59, he stopped the fight about one tenth of a second before the horn sounded.

Gina was taking a pretty bad beating for the last ten seconds. You could maybe argue that she could’ve survived and carried on but after Cyborg’s vicious ground & pound it probably would’ve been over in the first minute of the second.

Anyone who says women can’t fight should seriously take a look at these two go at it. UFC and mixed martial arts has a lot of ex-wrestling fans watching (due to wrestling being rubbish these days) and anyone that’s ever watched women’s wrestling on WWE should watch this fight just to be reassured that not all women are brainless talentless bimbos and implants, bleached hair and sun tans do not necessarily a good performer make.

Whenever a women’s match comes on during a wrestling show, that’s usually my cue to either get a drink or hit the ‘forward’ button on the remote. Whenever a womens match comes on during a Strikeforce/MMA show it’s usually the match of the night.

Like I said earlier, these two came to fight and, even though the crowd (and fan) favourite suffered defeat, it was a good enough match that she didn’t lose face or credibility in defeat. This fight was so good it made most of the men fighting on this show look lazy. 

The crowd reaction for the entrances and during match was some of the loudest I’ve ever heard from an MMA event, and there’s been some HUGE crowd reactions for established heroes like Georges St. Pierre, Forrest Griffin and Randy Couture. Everyone in the audience was excited for this fight and, most importantly, believed it to be worthy of a main event, treating Carano & Cyborg like stars. Cyborg was even signing autographs on her way back to the dressing room from atop her husband’s shoulders.

It’ll be interesting to see where both Carano and Cyborg go from here given there aren’t any other big name female fighters out there right now, but that’s not to say they won’t make for exciting or competitive bouts. In fact, maybe now these two fighters have put women’s MMA firmly on the map we may see more and more women making names for themselves. Hopefully the sport will attract new female fans and competitors too.

Moving forward, Strikeforce would be insane not to schedule an eventual rematch between the two if Gina fights her way back to contention and Cyborg retains her title in the coming months.

If promoted properly, a rematch would be even bigger than the first. And, if Carano was to win, a third bout between the two (to determine an unofficial ’best of 3′) could be the first women’s MMA fight to rival the gigantic UFC in terms of putting bums on seats.

Although, as much as I (and the fans) like Gina Carano, she just seems a bit too nice and may lack the ruthlessness of Cris Cyborg. She’d have to embrace a killer instinct to match aggression and plain old scariness.

This woman is tough and looks unbeatable at the moment. It’s going to take either a fluke punch, injury or medium sized car crash to take her out any time soon.

Cris Cyborg: this woman would kill you dead.

Gina Carano; all this and she can fight too.

Just days after the positive drug test of main event fighter Josh Barnett sent Affliction into a frenzy looking for an opponent for heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko, the company has confirmed reports earlier today that the event was canceled, according to MMAjunke.com

Affliction Vice President Tom Atencio told MMAjunkie the event was scrapped in large part due to the loss of Barnett.  Altough there were reports yesterday that middleweight Vitor Belfort had verbally agreed to step in a face the much larger Fedor, no contracts were ever signed.

What was looking to be an amazing three week stretch for the MMA world, with Affliction: Trilogy on August 1st, UFC 101 featuring a lightweight title fight between BJ Penn and Kenny Florian on August 8th, and a Strikeforce event headlined by the long awaited Gina Carano-Cyborg fight, has been tarnished.

The Strikeforce event was supposed to feature four titile fights, but over the last few weeks the heavyweight title fight featuring Alistair Overeem and Fabricio Werdum was scrapped due to injury, and today a welterweight title fight between Nick Diaz and Joe Riggs was canceled as well.

What does this once again prove?

The UFC is king, and it will be extremely difficult for any other promotion to put even a dent in their armor.

W. Piece

This fuckin’ guy. Baroni continues where UFC 98 left off, extending the dissapointing streak of loses currently being suffered by New York based and/or born fighters.

Let’s just hope Jon Jones, Amir Sadollah, Tamdan McCrory and George Sotiropoulos can turn the trend around with wins at UFC 100 and 101.

Click on the fashion victim to the left for the full Baroni vs Riggs video.

Joe Riggs in KNOXX track jacket

Strikeforce: Lawler vs. Shields Preview

Phil Baroni is taking on Joe Riggs at Strikeforce on June 6th in St. Louis, MO.  Bottom line, this is the most in-shape and athletic Phil Baroni I’ve seen yet.  He’s trained his butt off for this fight and the pictures below show what kind of shape he’s  in.  Make sure to watch the fight, it has “fireworks” written all over it.

Author: Warren Piece

A slew of NY-based/born MMA fighters are set to do battle in the upcoming months: Matt Serra will finally battle his arch-nemesis, the evil Matt Hughes (in a loser and/or winner retires match…just me speculating…?)  AND Rashad Evans will take on Lyoto Machida for the strap (should be an amazing tilt) AND Phillipe Nover faces Kyle Bradley @ UFC 98; Phil Baroni  (keep the streak alive bro) will battle Joe Riggs @ Strikeforce: Lawler vs Shields; A promising Jon Jones will take on Jake O’Brien @ UFC 100; A reinvigorated, head-kickin’ Matt Hamill will face Brandon Vera in a crucial matchup AND Amir Sadollah will face the great TBA @ UFC 101 in Philly (we’ll be there). Make us proud boyz! NY needs some big W’s!

Strikeforce June 6: Riggs vs. Baroni

Strikeforce: Jake Shields vs. Joe Riggs

Strikeforce “Destruction” Review

Author: Warren Piece

Despite the valiant efforts of Strikeforce to put together what appeared to be a great main card on paper (featuring Kim Couture, Luke Stewart, Joe Riggs, Duane Ludwig, Yves Edwards, Renato Sobral, Bobby Southworth, Terry Martin and Scott Smith), “Destruction” could have been title “Disappointment”.

Mrs. Randy looked relatively sloppy (in comparison to Gina Carano, Chris Cyborg and other real-deal female fighters) in her demolition of a nobody who looked to have been pulled off the street and offered a couple of bucks to take a beating. I don’t see Dana Dane inviting her over to the WEC anytime soon.

“Diesel” finished off Stewart with a TKO in an otherwise lackluster bout (although I enjoyed checking out Luke’s impressive tattoo collection).

“Bang” defeated Edwards via unanimous decision, which was total bullshit. Edwards did his best to keep the fight on the ground and ensure that there be no excitement whatsoever involved in this bout. Despite the fact that such fighting style totally blows for the fans in attendance and at home, Edwards definitely deserved the W.

In big news, “Babalu” is the new Strikeforce Light Heavyweight champ (his first title from a major promotion)! I have mixed feelings on this one. The fight was won due to a fucking canyon (one of the nastiest cuts I’ve ever seen) Sobral opened up over Bobby’s right eye with a good elbow. Other than that one shot, the match looked like it could have gone either way. I think Southworth deserves an immediate rematch (sorry James).

In the main event (good move positioning this fight last), Scott Smith totally saved the day and the entire show by knocking Terry Martin the freak out (that one’s for you Josh). You could produce and sell an entire DVD of all of the great KOs Martin has suffered over the years. Dude totally collapses…its awesome! Big Scott Smith fan.

PS: I realize that this article has nothing to do with the New York Fight Scene, but I felt like writing something, so I did. What are you gonna do about it!? That’s what I thought.

Quick Results:

Scott Smith def. Terry Martin by KO in Round 1

Renato “Babalu” Sobral def. Bobby Southworth at the end of Round 1 Due to Cut

Duane “Bang” Ludwig def. Yves Edwards by Unanimous Decision

Joe ‘Diesel’ Riggs defeats Luke Stewart via TKO (Strikes) in Round Two

Kim Couture defeats Lina Kvokov via TKO (Strikes) in Round One

Notes:

• Check out my pre-fight picks.  I went 5 for 5 here.  Honestly, non-UFC events have fewer upsets and are easier to pick.   I don’t mean to brag, but I have done fairly well with my picks.  Maybe I should pick up gambling…nah.
• Scott Smith looked really solid and Terry Martin has a glass jaw
• I don’t know if the Southworth fight should have been stopped, but Babalu probably had it in the bag anyways
• It looks like Kim Couture fought a tomato can who was scared to engage and turned away as she was being beaten up
• Yves Edwards might want to consider retirement
• The production of this event was second rate at best

This still turns out to be a fairly solid card, b ut it really took a hit with the injury to Josh Thomson.  However, Strikeforce showed a lot of flexibility by bringing in Duane Ludwig as a replacement and by tapping Scott Smith and Terry Martin to fight, which really helped a card that would have been dead otherwise.  It doesn’t have UFC draw on it, but it has 4 good fights, plus the debut of Kim Couture.  There are a lot of prospects on the undercard and I only know of a few of them so I will refrain from picking out of ignorance. 

Bobby Southworth vs. Renato “Babalu” Sobral

Bobby Southworth may be able to hit hard with that right hand, but I base this pick off of pure skill set.  Babalu may be a punk, but he is a top 20 light heavyweight in the world punk.  He has to hope for a win as he has a tough match up looming in January with Matt Lindland at Affliction’s second card.  Babalu is a great grappler, wrestler and jiu jitsu practitoner.  Southworth may want to watch Chuck Liddell’s fight against Babalu as Babalu may be suseptible to strikes.  However, in the end Babalu is too well rounded.  I saw he gets the take down and chokes out Southworth in round 2 to become the Strikeforce light heavyweight champion.

Yves Edwards vs. Duane “Bang” Ludwig

Edwards has the experience in his corner, however I think Ludwig’s muay thai will prove to be too much.  Edwards has a weak chin which will be tested in this fight.  Ludwig is not on elite level, but this should be a good fight.  Also, do not forget Ludwig will have some size advantage in this fight as well.  I pick Ludwig by TKO in round 1.

Terry Martin vs. Scott Smith

This is a great fight.  I do not know what this means for Smith’s career and the contract status with ProElite, but this is a big fight for Smith.  Scott Smith hung with Lawler in their first fight and then suffered a loss to him.   This fight will show that Scott Smith is not a one hit wonder in MMA.  A loss here would hurt Smith’s career with the fold of ProElite.  A win here and he could find a lot of offers including an offer from Strikeforce, Affliction, DREAM, or even a shot back in the UFC.  A loss would hurt that.  At one time i was on the Terry Martin hype wagon.  He looked good for a while in the UFC, but the loss to Leben hurt him.  Terry martin is a great boxer, but while he can KO people he can also be KO’d himself.  I have to believe that Smith has overall better MMA skills and hope he would utilize kicks and strikes to get the win.  I would expect this fight to stay standing.  If Smith uses his kicks well I expect he can keep his distance and pick up the win.  I pick Scott Smith to win this by decision.

Joe Riggs vs. Luke Stewart

Which Joe Riggs will show up?  Riggs has looked decent lately.  He got a bad deal with the stoppage at the last event against Kazuo Misaki, but he still was going to lose that fight.  Stewart is a relative unknown with good jiu jitsu skills.  Riggs is a solid competitior.  I expect him to win by decision.

Original Article: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news?slug=ki-carano100808&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

The video (Gina Carano stripping naked to make weight):

Now I could go on and on about the double standard of men vs. women in society, or that we all have this notion that men and women both have their places in this world and fighting in a cage is no place for a woman, but I’ll leave all that alone.

What I will touch on is the subconscious notion this article brings to anyone looking up to Gina Carano as a role model, especially young girls. As much as society and mass advertising breed insecurity and low self esteem into young women as it is, it also feels the need to put the issue of weight on blast every chance it gets.

While I know that the actions of everyone should be accounted for and that I think the concept of ‘idols’ and ‘role models’ are way overrated, I do know that I haven’t seen an article in this capacity for any MALE fighter. Although this article attempts to balance itself out by mentioning boxer Jose Luis Castillo having issues making weight, it fails to mention the drastic weight cuts of today’s male fighters such as Joe Riggs, who came down from Heavyweight to fight at 170lbs. among many others.

Aside from all that, young women (and all people for that matter) need to break away from these standards that society tries to set. Pay no attention to magazines and TV as they set ridiculously false ideals on how your life is supposed to be. If you want to look up to Gina Carano as inspiration, great! But do yourself a favor… think your own thoughts, find your own path, and be sure to march to the beat of your own drum along the way.

Strikeforce will have another exciting  MMA event  on November 21 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California. 

5:30pm – Doors Open
6:00pm – Prelims
7:30pm – Main Card

The main event will be Strikeforce Lightweight Champion Josh “The Punk” Thomson Vs. Yves Edwards and the co-main event is between Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion Bobby Southworth against Renato “Babalu” Sobral.

Both of these fights are scheduled for five rounds and both are also title fights.

To get tickets for this show, call or email Peter Malik at Strikeforce.
Peter has the BEST seats in the arena and there are NO Ticketmaster fees or facility fees when you order from him so you save a lot of money.

No Ticketmaster Service Fees ($7.75 per ticket)
No Facility Fees ($2 per ticket)

You can reach Peter at (408) 603-6655 or email him at sbnmalik@yahoo.com

If you email him, please leave him your name, number, and how many tickets you need, and he will get back to you promptly.

For more information on the event and Strikeforce, check out http://www.strikeforce.com

The middleweights were hard to rank down towards the last 10.  Sorry if I left some good guys out.

Others Considered: Ricardo Almeida, Rousimar Palhares, Dean Lister, Jason “Mayhem” Miller, Frank Trigg

KNOXX’s spokesmodel, Alexia Lei, was recently chosen to be a Strikeforce ring girl. She was recently at the Playboy Mansion for Strikeforce at the Playboy Mansion II event in Southern California. Here are some pictures of Alexia Lei from that event.

Check out more pictures of KNOXX’s spokesmodel at
http://gallery.knoxxgear.com/thumbnails.php?album=254