Welcome to another edition of Payout Perspective as today we cover Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg.
The event itself was something of an experience that Strikeforce President Scott Coker will be happy to forget. The fight card was plagued with a series of injuries and testing mishaps that forced the cancellation of two additional title fights and numerous replacement fighters for the subsequent replacement fights.
The original main card was supposed to look something like this:
Heavyweight Championship (265lbs): Alistair Overeem vs. Fabricio Werdum
Women’s Featherweight Championship (145lbs.): Gina Carano vs. Cristiane “Cyborg”
Welterweight Championship (170lbs.): Nick Diaz vs. Joe Riggs
Lightweight Championship (155lbs.): Josh Thomson vs. Gilbert Melendez
The actual main card ended up looking like this:
Women’s Featherweight Championship (145lbs.): Gina Carano vs. Cristiane “Cyborg”
Light Heavyweight Championship (205lbs.): Renato Sobral vs. Gegard Mousasi
Heavyweight Bout (265lbs.): Fabricio Werdum vs. Mike Kyle
Interim Lightweight Championship (155lbs.): Gilbert Melendez vs. Mitsushiro Ishida
Strikeforce Numbers:
On Saturday, the card drew 13,976 to the HP Pavillion in San Jose, California for live-gate of $735,710. Edit: According to MMAjunkie, the Showtime broadcast did an average of 576,000 viewers (peaking at 856,000) making it Strikeforce’s strongest showing the on premium cable network to date.
Fighter payouts courtesy of MMAweekly and the CSAC:
Cristiane Santos $25,000 (includes $5,000 win bonus) def. Gina Carano $125,000
Gegard Mousasi $2,000** def. Renato Sobral $75,000
Gilbert Melendez $50,000 def. Mitsuhiro Ishida $30,000
Fabricio Werdum $50,000 (includes $25,000 win bonus) def. Mike Kyle $14,000
Jay Hieron $55,000 (includes $30,000 win bonus) def. Jesse Taylor $12,000
Scott Lighty $4,000 def. Mike Cook $2,500
Justin Wilcox $5,000 (includes $2,500 win bonus) def. David Douglas $5,500
James Terry $6,000 (includes $3,000 win bonus) def. Zak Bucia $2,000
Alex Trevino $3,500 (includes $1,500 win bonus) def. Isaiah Hill $2,000
Total Disclosed Fighter Payroll: $468,500
Storylines:
Cyborg’s dominant aggression, power: Cristiane Cyborg seemed to easily topple Gina Carano with her aggression and punching power, forcing the more technical Carano into the fetal position more than once. It was a tremendous display, by both women, of athleticism and skill – both deserve to be applauded.
Questions abound in regards to the future of Women’s MMA: However, despite the skill and athleticism shown by both Cyborg and Carano on Saturday night, the bout seems to have left more questions than answers in regards to the future of women’s MMA. Are fans really interested in seeing two women fight, or were they simply more interested in seeing Gina Carano fight – a girl that’s made Maxim’s top 20 list and has been offered a playboy spread?
Cyborg’s power and aggression would make her an instant success in any of the men’s categories, but I’m not yet convinced that fighting ability is the key ingredient for a women’s MMA fighter.
And, if fighting isn’t the key ingredient to creating a women’s MMA star then what does that say about the prospect of women’s MMA ever catching on. The point of the sport is physical combat and if strength of the product isn’t the product itself, the product is bound for failure.
Mind you, women’s MMA doesn’t have to be a commercial success. I strongly advocate equality in all walks of life, but at the same time, these women have to eat and make a living at what they’re doing; and for the sport to grow, young women martial artists need to know they can make a living with MMA before pursuing a career in the sport.
However, you could make the argument that women’s MMA just needs a proper platform, that Showtime isn’t it, and that perhaps the UFC could give women’s MMA the legitimizing marketing boost it needs. All things that remain to be see. The response that Cyborg receives as the world’s best women’s fighter will be a telling predictor of the future drawing potential for women’s MMA.
Mousasi topples Sobral: Gegard Mousasi was extremely impressive in his Strikeforce debut. The Armenian is not only a sensation on the ground, but also a stalwart on his feet. It makes you wonder if the UFC really dropped the ball in not pursuing this guy a little more heavily; although complications with his Dream and M-1 affliations seem to be the main show stopper in this instance.
Did anyone catch the Strikeforce post-fight press conference where Coker referred to Mousasi as a Dream fighter, only to be corrected by someone from M-1 in mid-sentence? These guys are serious!
Mousasi considered in P4P top-ten: Probably a little too early for this one. Yes, he’s had some good wins over Souza, Manhoef, Kang, and Hunt, but moving up to face Sobral, who even Jason Lambert managed to knockout, isn’t enough to consider him amongst the top ten just yet. Furthermore, who’s he going to defend that Strikeforce title against? There’s a reason why Sobral hadn’t defended the LHW title in nearly a year: the Strikeforce light heavyweight division is extremely thin.
Coker talking about 18-20 shows next year, Fedor in November: The next ShoChallenger card is set for September and will feature Tim Kennedy and Evangelista Cyborg. Strikeforce will hold a show in each of September, October, and November culminating in Fedor’s first appearance; a fight likely to be against either Werdum or Rogers.
The prospect of 18-20 shows next year is interesting, if not optimistic. Hopefully it’s a sign that Strikeforce is on the verge of getting some of these cards on CBS or PPV – although the PPV platform is still going to be extremely difficult for the organization to navigate without better brand recognition.
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