Strikeforce: Carano Vs. Cyborg Post-Fight Analysis

From www.mmagroundnpound.com

Even though their most popular fighter on the card suffered her first professional defeat, Strikeforce had to consider tonight's event as a success. Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos showed without any doubt who the best professional women's MMA fighter is by defeating Gina Carano in the first round of their championship contest.  Despite what you'll hear and read in other places, I don't think the outcome was as one sided as many do.

Santos overwhelmed Carano with her power and pure tenacity, but Carano had a few advantageous situations where she didn't take full advantage. Her best moment in the fight was when she had top mount on Santos a little over a minute into the fight. Carano was landing a few punches on Santos, but for some reason decided to stand and let Santos up. Maybe she was concerned about Santos' solid Brazilian Jiu Jitsu skills, but either way she lost her best opportunity to win the fight.

Carano was never able to get her striking on track. She threw very few kicks, mainly using her jab to try and keep Santos at bay. When the two did clinch, Santos' power enabled her to basically throw Carano to the canvas. The end came with just one second left in the first round, as Santos was raining down shots on a defenseless Carano. It was a good stoppage, but left me wondering what would have happened if the fight continued into the second round. I suppose we'll never get an answer to that.

However, all was not lost for Carano. I think there's things she can definitely improve on if she wants to make a run at Santos a second time. First, she needs to utilize her entire striking aresnal, not just jabs. She is a much better striker than what she showed tonight.

Second, she needs to improve her ground game. Despite the fact that she worked herself into a mount position on Santos, Cyborg completely outclassed her on the ground. Santos had a heel hook early in the first round, and nearly had an Americana later on in the round. Gina was able to somewhat fend those off, but she still has a lot of work to do in that department to catch up to Santos.

It'll be tough for Strikeforce to turn Cyborg into a star. She doesn't have the name recognition that Carano does, and let's be honest, she doesn't have Carano's looks either. However, her intensity and power are things that can be marketed, although not at the level that Carano could be.

Although one of Strikeforce's biggest stars went down to defeat, another fighter made steps on his way to becoming a household name in the United States. Gegard Mousasi, making his debut inside the United States, overwhelmed Renato "Babalu" Sobral to win the Strikeforce light heavyweight title.

The end came only one minute into the fight.

Mousasi was able to gain side control on the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt, and finished him off with a series of punches that left Sobral out cold. The win improves Mousasi's record to 26-2. Strikeforce is going to have a difficult time finding credible opponents for Mousasi, but tonight showed that they may have a new star on their hands.

In a rematch from their New Year's Eve 2007 battle, it was Gilbert Melendez getting the victory over Mitsuhiro Ishida to keep the interim lightweight title. Unlike their previous affair, Ishida had difficulty taking down Melendez, succeeding on only one of seven attempts. Melendez used great defensive wresting as well as his superior standup game to stifle Ishida from the opening bell on. The end came a little over three minutes into the 3rd round when Melendez ground n' pounded his way to the stoppage. The win for Melendez will setup the anticipated rematch between Melendez and Josh Thomson for the title. Thomson dominated Melendez en route to a unanimous decision last time, but as we saw tonight, Melendez can be a much different fighter the second time around.

Full results: