Strikeforce Main Event – Carano vs. Cyborg

The world of women’s MMA will never be the same after this Saturday as the top two women’s fighters in the world, Gina Carano and Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos, will battle for Strikeforce’s first-ever women’s championship.

Carano has been called the “face of women’s MMA” for her good looks and easy-going, media-friendly personality, while Cyborg seems to be playing the role of the villain in this fight with her intimidating physical presence and businesslike demeanor.

Perhaps it’s a bit telling that Carano, the former American Gladiators star while playing the role of “Crush” and by far the more popular of the two fighters, is still an underdog at BetOnline. Cyborg is a -200 to +160 favorite over the underdog Carano despite both being accomplished fighters with impressive records.

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Cyborg comes into the matchup with a 7-1 career MMA mark while Carano is undefeated at 7-0. Both fighters have had some trouble making weight recently, but are both expected to be much more motivated going into this fight and in better shape. It would be a surprise if either of them came in above the 145-pound weight limit.

Each represents a fabled MMA training camp as well as Santos has trained with the legendary Chute Boxe Academy while Carano has done some work with Randy Couture and company up at Xtreme Couture.

Carano has worked hard to get in better shape as she’s been carrying around a little baby fat recently, and that could be her weakness going into this matchup with Cyborg. But reports are that she has gotten in better shape recently.

She’ll need to stay strong the whole fight against Cyborg who is known for bullying her opponents around the ring and using her superior strength and conditioning advantages.

Cyborg won’t be able to bully Carano as easily, however, as she is perhaps her strongest opponent to date. Cyborg is capable of pushing the pace and staying in Carano’s face, however, which would be a smart game plan after watching how Carano struggled at times with the pressure applied by Kelly Kobold in her last fight.

In many ways, this is uncharted territory for both fighters being on such a big stage against such high-caliber competition, but considering that Cyborg is a little more technically sound as a grappler and striker and in better shape going into this one, she seems like the safe pick her.

Expect a close fight early with lots of fireworks, but Cyborg will wear Carano down and capture the championship with by decision due to superior striking.