Gina Carano, the best-known women's mixed martial arts fighter in America, is going to fight Kelly Kobold-Gavin on CBS on October 4.That fight is a fine match-up, but it's a bit of a disappointment, because so many MMA fans were hoping to see Carano fight Cris Cyborg, who put on a dominant performance in last month's CBS show.
But that gets to what I thought was the key takeaway from my interview with EliteXC boss Jeremy Lappen: EliteXC isn't on CBS for the sake of being on CBS. EliteXC is on CBS in an attempt to build a brand, and then capitalize on that brand by putting the most popular fighters on pay-per-view.
The bottom line is that what EliteXC wants is for Carano to have an impressive victory over Kobold-Gavin, for Cyborg to have an impressive victory over some other opponent on CBS, and for the buzz around a Carano vs. Cyborg fight to grow to the point where people are willing to pay their hard-earned money to see it.
So although it was a breakthrough for mixed martial arts to get on network television, the bottom line is that this is a business that only really makes money on pay-per-view TV. At least, that's what EliteXC thinks.
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