MMA Twitter universe is getting excited about Saturday night's Strikeforce fight between Gina Carano and Cris Cyborg, so we have a number of questions about the fight in our latest MMA Twitter mailbag about the fight, starting with whether Cyborg winning would be good or bad for women's MMA.We also have a question about a strange couple of days in the UFC, when two fighters lost their jobs, then got them back, then lost them again. Your questions and my answers for the MMA Twitter mailbag are below.
beewsee: If Cyborg were to beat Gina, do you believe it would hurt or help womens MMA? Gina would be the most visible champion.
Most people will disagree with this, but I think if Cyborg wins it will help women's MMA. Carano can suffer a loss and remain the most recognizable woman in the sport, and Cyborg winning will produce a second bona fide star for women's MMA. If Cyborg wins there will be interest in her first title defense and in Carano's comeback fight, and then there would be big interest in a rematch down the road.
I liken it to Mike Brown vs. Urijah Faber in World Extreme Cagefighting. When Brown upset Faber, a lot of people said it was bad for the WEC because Faber was the promotion's most recognizable star. But as it turns out, the win turned Brown into an MMA star too, and it didn't do anything to hurt Faber's drawing power. And then Brown-Faber 2 was an even bigger fight than the first one.
The most important thing for women's MMA is that Cyborg and Carano give the fans an exciting fight. But I think that for the long-term growth of women's MMA, it's better if Cyborg wins.
onetwocross: I remember at the last weigh ins at Strikeforce I witnessed Cyborg looking SHREDDED at 152. I think she'll make 145 tho.
You tweeted this before the weigh-ins, and you were correct. Cyborg made 145 and, once again, looked shredded.
PJHarrison: You have to admit that is the best Carano has looked.
You're right. In fact, I think Friday's weigh-ins were the best both Carano and Cyborg have looked. They both appeared to be in excellent shape, and I think they're going to give us a great fight.
dmadebb: The fights are on Showtime 10:30 ET - do you know if they are showing the prelim fights or just the main card?
This card has changed more times than I can count, but as of Saturday morning the plan is to show five fights live: Fabricio Werdum vs. Mike Kyle, Jay Hieron vs. Jesse Taylor, Gilbert Melendez vs. Mitsuhiro Ishida, Renato Sobral vs. Gegard Mousasi and Gina Carano vs. Cris Cyborg. There are four other fights on the card that won't be televised. None of those involve recognizable names.
John_S_Adams: Unbelievable that the UFC and Dana White have once again decided that Leites and McCrory will be cut after all.
This story kind of got lost in the hype surrounding Strikeforce, but the UFC released Thales Leites and Tamdan McCrory this week. But then on Friday Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports quoted UFC President Dana White as saying Leites and McCrory weren't cut. And then later on Friday Iole quoted White as saying they are cut after all.
I don't know where all the indecisiveness came from, but I think Leites would be a natural fit for Strikeforce. Leites has lost two fights in a row and (perhaps more importantly to the UFC) was boring in defeat both times, but he has solid Brazilian jiu jitsu skills and would be a legitimate threat to anyone in the Strikeforce middleweight division.
Want to be part of our next MMA Twitter mailbag? Post a question or comment on Twitter.com, and be sure to start it with @MichaelDavSmith.
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