Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg/UFC 100 Re-Broadcast Thoughts

Continuing the trend of a very interesting, eventful August with a lot of ramifications in MMA, Strikeforce's first event as the undisputed #2 promotion in MMA went off last night, and for my money, it bore mixed results. There was a lot of hype and promotion going into the vent regarding the main event, while behind the scenes there was constant turmoil and shifts going on.

What was supposed to be an all-title fight main card was reduced to two title fights and an interim championship match. First off, a lightweight unification title was changed to an interim title defense when Josh Thomson pulled out of his fight with Gilbert Melendez due to injury. Thomson was replaced with Mitsuhiro Ishida.

Then you had Joe Riggs pulling out of his fight with Nick Diaz due to an adverse reaction to a drug, only to be replaced by Jay Hieron for the welterweight title. However, Diaz fails to show up for a scheduled drug test due to questions about marijuana use and the penalties surrounding it. Hieron is then replaced with Jesse Taylor and bumped down to the prelims.

Given all the changes, there was no way I felt comfortable making predictions, even though the few fights which remained I had strong inclinations about. Onto my thoughts about the main card:

Werdumed to Obscurity. Fabricio Werdum trounced Mike Kyle in the first pretty easily, and this is an example of UFC's run-off serving Strikeforce's better interests. Werdum was good in UFC but not great... in a growing promotion like Strikeforce, he could either stand as a gatekeeper to the likes of Fedor and Brett Rogers, or he could completely reinvent himself similar to Vitor Belfort. However, Belfort's success came as a result of dropping to middleweight. My concern is Strikeforce using him as Fedor fodder (I need to trademark that term stat...) much in the same way Affliction used Tim Sylvia and Andre Arlovski. It gives them the chance to say, "Look at this former top tier UFC heavyweight who just fell to our stud... A stud Dana White doesn't have." Judging by the promos they're already airing for Fedor, I wouldn't be surprised.

One down, one to go. Gilbert Melendez looked absolutely dominant against Mitsuhiro Ishida. It had to feel good finishing him off in such convincing fashion after his decision loss at Yarennoka - New Year's Eve 2007. He simply outclassed Ishida in every category. Now it only remains to be seen if he can accomplish the "Iceman Goal" patented by Chuck Liddell: avenging every loss on his record. Considering the only other check in his "L column" is to the man he was supposed to face (Josh Thomson), it almost seems fortuitous the way things worked out this time.

Passing Gegard. I've seen some of Gegard Mousasi's work in DREAM, and all I can say is I thought he may be the one guy at middleweight to really give Anderson Silva a run for his money. I'm so impressed with this guy, I had no doubts he'd win. I just don't think I envisioned it being so quick and decisive. One minute in and the look on Bablu's face as he lay on the ground brought me back to seeing Miguel Torres get crushed by Brian Bowles just one week ago. Given all the hype around Fedor and Gina Carano, if I were Scott Coker, I'd put a hype machine behind Mousasi as the next big thing at 205. Because he could very well be. It's really too bad M-1 global lied to him about a UFC offer to get him in Strikeforce. Because I would love to see what this guy could do in the UFC. Save Lyoto Machida and Silva, I'd put money on him against just about anybody else in the division.

The (Bruised) Face of Women's MMA. I never made official picks on ILK, but if I did, I would've picked Cris Cyborg in a heartbeat over Gina Carano. To the casual or uneducated fan, Carano had to be viewed as the favorite coming in. Even Sherdog's poll of MMA professionals predicted Carano's inevitable victory. But let's be clear: this was not a Serra-GSP upset by any means. No matter how the card was promoted, Cyborg was a 2-1 favorite coming in (if you saw the pre-fight interviews, you'd have caught that). Don't forget, Gina Carano hadn't fought since October of 2008. Cris Cyborg was battering Hitomi Akano at Strikeforce's Showtime debut just four months ago. Those layoffs can be brutal for even the best of fightersThe thing that clinched it for me was her Chute Box background. When you come from the same school that's responsible for the likes of Wanderlei Silva, Mauricio and Murilo Rua, and of course Anderson Silva, you are pretty much validated as a legit MMA badass. Cyborg's ground and pound is absolutely vicious, and the major factor in this was her power. Although she wound up in mount a couple times, she was able to toss Carano around with great ease in spite of the choppy landings. Her ground n' pound is what sealed the deal, though. Carano looked like she couldn't keep up after the first three minutes, and despite a close opening, it was clear who would win this. As for Gina, I would put some time and energy into learning a bit more about the ground game. Her stand-up technique is solid, but leaves her a little too one-dimensional against more well-versed fighters.

Strikeforce is in an interesting position now... Scott Coker has mentioned he may host two women's tournaments at 135 and 145 lbs. This would be ideal as it would help them fill a niche UFC has not even approached. Aside from good promotion and production values courtesy of Zuffa, part of the reason WEC is successful is because it offers something UFC doesn't: lower weight classes. Strikeforce will need this in the early going to offer a differentiating factor. As I've detailed, other promotions have tried more gimmicky approaches such as IFL's team system and YAMMA's "innovative" pit, all to no avail. Women's MMA could be just the thing to give Strikeforce a little more appeal, as it offers something unique without the cheese factor.

However, after building up Gina Carano as "the Face of Women's MMA," Strikeforce is now left with a different, less attractive face as its first women's champion. Nothing against Cyborg, I consider her the better fighter than Carano. But there's no arguing Gina's cover girl looks and sex appeal, so marketing Cyborg could be far, far more challenging than Carano. They may have painted themselves into a corner by putting so many eggs into the Carano basket. They have to make other stars. Let's not forget, part of what failed Affliction and EliteXC was emphasis on too few names.

Put it this way... When Quinton Jackson defeated Chuck Liddell, who was arguably the most recognizable face in UFC and the sport at the time, UFC didn't have any trouble being able to market him or others as top stars. Strikeforce is still very much in it's infantile growth stages, so it's important for them to market multiple names. Not just Carano and Fedor. I would put a lot of emphasis on the women's division as a whole for starters. Because let's face it, who knows how many talented female fighters there are out there, really. It's still being exposed over here, lots could change. Cyborg could be a one-defense champion. Let the cream rise to the top, I say. I would also put a strong marketing vehicle behind Gegard Mousasi. He clearly has the goods, and I don't see anyone wresting that belt from him anytime soon.

Overall, this was a good event if a little short. It was hard to have expectations past the main event given all the last minute changes. Had Diaz and Thomson been on the card, I think we'd see more fights going the distance as opposed to three out of four televised bouts ending in the first round. Compared to their other Showtime events, this was Strikeforce's weakest outing yet, in my opinion. It'll be interesting to see how November's card plays out.

Per the norm (PTN), minutiae...

OK, we get it, he's good. Notice how every name they posted on Fedor's hit list during that promo is a former or present UFC heavyweight. Convenient there was no mention of Babalu or Hong-Man Choi on that list. The Fedor hype machine is officially in full effect. I guess they have to do it, but there's much more to the story than former UFC Heavyweight Champions.

Lock it up and throw away the "keys." I don't understand the whole "Keys to Victory" thing they do with Frank Shamrock. Obviously they're trying to educate the uninitiated on some moves and techniques, but he could do a lot better job of explaining why these factors are essential to winning for a fighter. The only decent explanation given was for the main event.

Mike Goldberg would call him "classy." I give Gegard Mousasi a lot of credit for stopping as soon as he saw the blank stare in Babalu's eyes. So many fighters are programmed to keep going until the ref calls it, it's nice to see someone who knows when to let the ref see for himself.

It looks like a second head... I know most fighters take pride in their cauliflower ears as red badges of courage. But man, Randy Couture's ear looked awful. I know he's training for Nogueira right now and getting it drained would mean a few weeks off from full-on sparring. I just hope he gets it taken care of immediately after the 29th, because that thing is giving me flashbacks to "Total Recall."

If this were WEC, I wouldn't be watching "Sports Soup" at its regularly scheduled time. I wound up programming my DVR to spill over into "Penn and Teller: Bullshit!" not expecting to actually pick up any of the show. I'm surprised they at least didn't offer a prelim fight to fill time. Four fights and five rounds made for a quick night lasting less than two hours. It may not be pay per view, but still, throw out something the home viewers can still check out. If it's quality, you'll just be getting behind your product more.

On the same night, we had a head-to-head free broadcast of UFC 100 on Spike. I've never had a problem with UFC doing this, it's just business as usual. They offered a free fight night with Anderson Silva's shift up to light heavyweight up against Affliction's first PPV outing. So what's so bad about this? This is just competitive tactics. Let's not forget WWF and WCW went head-to-head every Monday night for years. Prior to that, Vince McMahon and Ted Turner would challenge each other in head-to-head free televised cards up against PPV events. This is nothing new. Think of how many times you've seen a Walgreens a block away from a CVS. No different, honestly.

Just a couple thoughts on the slightly different broadcast...

Hammer Time (someone had to say it). Mark Coleman looked the best I'd seen him in years in his fight against Stephan Bonnar. I was predicting Bonnar would bounce back after losing to Johnny Jones in February, but Coleman impressed me the way he took the second and third rounds. It was like watching a completely different guy compared to his performance against Shogun. I'd pick him over Tito Ortiz since Tito is coming off a year-plus layoff and back surgery.

Jonesing for Bones. I'm keepin' an eye on Johnny "Bones" Jones. He floored me with his first two rounds against Stephan Bonnar at UFC 94. He actually went to high school with a guy I used to train with, and I've heard lots about his ability. He's got great wrestling, great strength and a crazy reach at 84.5". If he can keep his cardio up in third rounds moving forward, I predict he'll see gold someday.

Pressed for time? No "Rush." I can understand leaving GSP's dominant performance off the free broadcast considering it was a full 5 rounds. Also, compared to Henderson's highlight knockout, it wasn't as spectacular an outing, and they had to leave room for Brock Lesnar since he's such a lightning rod for attention. You'd think they'd leave room for their most popular fighter to be showcased, but you can sort of see why they didn't.

How dare you cut off Joe Rogan! Honestly, I don't have a problem with UFC editing Dan Henderson's post fight comments about knowing Michael Bisping was already out cold when he dropped the second big blow to him. I'm sure he wasn't serious, but it's still a loaded comment that garnered a lot of negative press. It was a smart move.

Well, three cards into August and we have three new champions, a massive upset, some controversy PTN and oh, by the way, there's still one more PPV to go. I'll be back this week with predictions for UFC 102.