EliteXC's Shayna Baszler Defends Women's MMA: 'I Don't Care What Dana White Says'

Here's a look at Shayna Baszler, who fights on EliteXC's CBS card on Saturday, beating Samantha Gavere last year:

On a call to promote the EliteXC show this week, Baszler was asked about UFC President Dana White's claim that there aren't enough good female fighters for UFC to bother with women's mixed martial arts.
Baszler answered:

"I don't care what Dana White has to say. If he wants to question the depth of talent; that is just going to give companies like EliteXC one more thing to tap into that he's not. He wants to question the depth of the female division, but every fight, every female fight that ProElite has put on has been a showcase of women's talent and has been "fight of the night" type material. If he wants to give that avenue to others to pursue, then, fine. The more the merrier. I don't care. I just want to fight the best. I don't know, if he wants to question that, then I'd question the talent of his heavyweight division."

Added Baszler's opponent Saturday night, Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos, "I'd love to fight Dana White to show him how tough women are."

I'm not sure a Cyborg vs. White fight s a good idea, but I do agree with her that there are a lot of tough women in the sport.

EliteXC's card Saturday night is solid, with two of the Top 25 MMA fighters in the world on hand. But the truth is, EliteXC just doesn't have the men's fighting talent to compete with UFC, and it doesn't have as much talent as Affliction, either. EliteXC needs women's MMA to set itself apart from the other promotions, and the Baszler-Cyborg fight is a good one.