Gina will you marry me? Strikeforce: Carano vs Cyborg

Welcome back everyone! In an effort not to burn myself out, I’m going to take the day off from writing on fantasy football. I know I said I would yesterday, but there’s quite a bit that I need to cover and I also wanted to blog about tonight’s Strikeforce fight. So if you’re normally here for the fantasy football, come back tomorrow. I’ll be doing updates on all 3 of my drafts and Nick will have some commentary also. If you can’t wait until tomorrow to know how I’m doing then click the links below for the up to minute statuses of my drafts…

AntSports $50 Early Draft 11 FFL

Draft Challenge 184

Draft Challenge 258

Also, in case you haven’t signed up for Antsports free Draft Challenge, then do so today. Today is the last day to sign up. You can sign up HERE.

Strikeforce: Carano vs Cyborg
Tonight’s Strikeforce features the biggest fight in women’s MMA history. Should women be allowed to fight? That’s a whole other debate entirely. Personally, it doesn’t bother me if women want to compete. I don’t have much interest in their side of the sport other than Gina Carano seeing how Gina is my future wife and all. (Sidenote) I about died when I saw the pictures from her weigh-in yesterday, she looked smoking! Other than being super hot, she is also a pretty good fighter. She’s in for a tough one tonight with Cris “Cyborg” Santos. The card will also feature championship fights in the league’s light heavyweight and lightweight divisions.

Weigh-In Results (From MMAJunkie.com)
MAIN CARD
Gina Carano (143) vs. Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos (144.5)
Champ Renato "Babalu" Sobral (201) vs. Gegard Mousasi (204)
Champ Gilbert Melendez (155) vs. Mitsuhiro Ishida (155)
Mike Kyle (219) vs. Fabricio Werdum (228)
Jay Hieron (169) vs. Jesse Taylor (169.5)*

PRELIMINARY CARD (un-aired)
Mike Cook (205) vs. Scott Lighty (202)
David "Tarzan" Douglas (156) vs. Justin Wilcox (154)
Zak Bucia (170) vs. James Terry (169)
Isaiah Hill (156) vs. Alex Trevino (156)
* - Missed weight on initial attempt and weighed 172 pounds. Taylor, though, made weight on his second attempt, according to Ken Pavia, Hieron's manager.

Betting Odds for the Main Card (From BetonFighting.com)
Gina Carano +120 vs. Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos -150
Champ Renato "Babalu" Sobral +180 vs. Gegard Mousasi -220
Champ Gilbert Melendez -220 vs. Mitsuhiro Ishida +180
Mike Kyle +370 vs. Fabricio Werdum -450
Jay Hieron -190 vs. Jesse Taylor +150

My Picks
For the record… WEC 42 Record: 2-2 0 units, overall record 2-2 0 units

Jay Hieron -190 vs. Jesse Taylor +150
This matchup was initially going to feature Joe Riggs and Nick Diaz for the vacant welterweight belt but Riggs pulled out. I’m not a fan of Riggs at all so I was looking for Diaz to serve him up a diet of punches. With Riggs out, Hieron was brought in. I was really looking forward to that fight. Then last week Diaz missed his drug test and because he missed it he was not able to get licensed for this fight and had to be pulled from the card. In an effort to keep the fight alive, Scott Coker (Strikeforce president) brought in former The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) finalist Jesse Taylor in. In case you forgot, Taylor was the wrestler from the season where Rampage and Forrest coached. Jesse made it to the finals pretty easily then went on a drunken rampage before the finale and was kicked out of the finals. After the show he was given a fight against his eventual replacement in the finale, CB Dolloway. Dolloway finished Taylor in a Peruvian Neck Tie. The loss earned Taylor a trip out of the UFC. Since being dropped from the organization, “JT Money” has gone to win 8 straight fights in less than a year including a win in Dream. Taylor comes in as a slight underdog and while I do think he can win the fight, I don’t think he will. Hieron comes from Randy Couture’s Xtreme Couture which has some of the best wrestlers in MMA. Hieron himself is good at wrestling. I see Hieron winning by TKO or by decision. This should be a good fight though, maybe even fight of the night.
My Pick: Hieron -190, 190 units to win 1 unit

Mike Kyle +370 vs. Fabricio Werdum -450
I’m not going to a lot of analysis on this one. I don’t really care. Werdum was supposed to be the next big thing in the UFC’s heavyweight division after wins over Gabriel Gonzaga and Brandon Vera but then he met Junious dos Santos. Santos was like a 7:1 underdog and Werdum walked into an uppercut and that was all she wrote for Werdum that night and in the UFC. I don’t really know a lot about Kyle. This fight was supposed to be a rematch for a title against current champ Alistair Overeem but that fell through. Based on the level of competition that these guys have faced, I’m going to agree with the oddsmakers and pick Werdum here. The loss to dos Santos would be enough to keep me away from this fight if I were actually betting on it, but I’m not so my pick is Werdum.
My Pick: Werdum -450, 450 units to win 1 unit

Champ Gilbert Melendez -220 vs. Mitsuhiro Ishida +180 for Interim Lightweight Title
Melendez is one of the best lightweight fighters outside of the UFC. This fight was originally supposed to feature a rematch and unification bout with current lightweight champion Josh Thompson but Thompson pulled out with an injury. With all the fights that fell through on this card, they should change the name this event Strikeforce: Just Kidding. But I digress. I don’t know much about Ishida other than he was the first to beat Melendez. When they fought, I don’t think that Melendez was ready for Ishida’s relentless pressure. Tonight I think it goes differently. Melendez is not happy about Thompson pulling out and according to a current report this week, not happy about having very little time to game plan for Ishida. I expect Melendez to take out his frustration with a TKO win over Ishida.
My pick: Melendez -220, 220 units to win 1 unit

Champ Renato "Babalu" Sobral +180 vs. Gegard Mousasi -220 for Light Heavyweight Title
This is probably the best fight of the night. Mousasi has been on a tear including winning the Dream middleweight title. He is currently on a 12 fight win streak and has not lost since 2006. Babalu was dropped from the UFC after he did not let go of his submission on David Heath even after Heath had tapped. Since being dropped from the UFC Babalu has won 4 more in a row and is the current light heavyweight champion for Strikeforce. Babalu has fought his fair share of tough opponents and I expect his fight tonight with Mousasi no different. I think Mousasi will be too much for him and Gegard “The Dreamcatcher” will walk away with another belt in a decision victory.
My Pick: Mousasi -220, 220 units to win 1 unit

Gina Carano +120 vs. Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos -150 for Women’s 145 pound title
Strikeforce is hoping this fight will take women’s MMA to the next level like the Bonnar/Griffin fight did for MMA in general. I doubt that. I’m not saying that this fight won’t be good, it will be. I just think that outside of Gina and Cyborg there aren’t enough good female fighters as both of these fighters have basically walked through their competition before this fight. Yes Santos does have 1 loss but that was in her first fight 4 years ago so I’m not going to let that hold much weight when comparing her to her current level. I love Gina, but I just don’t see her winning. I think she can KO Santos but Santos has some dangerous stand up herself and may be tougher all around than Gina. I’m excited to see how this one goes down but think that Cyborg wins in a decision. I hope I’m wrong. For the record I would not bet on this in real life.
My Pick: Santos -150, 150 units to win 1 unit

To recap here are my picks for tonight’s card…

• My Pick: Santos -150, 150 units to win 1 unit
• My Pick: Mousasi -220, 220 units to win 1 unit
• My pick: Melendez -220, 220 units to win 1 unit
• My Pick: Werdum -450, 450 units to win 1 unit
• My Pick: Hieron -190, 190 units to win 1 unit

That’s all for now! Have a great Saturday night everyone, see you guys tomorrow! Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Gina! I’ll still marry her even if she loses tonight.

-jg-