# Gina Carano: ‘I am a better fighter than the way I performed’ against Cyborg Santos



## Jamal (Aug 20, 2009)

Gina Carano: ‘I am a better fighter than the way I performed’ against Cyborg Santos










http://mmamania.com/2009/08/29/gina...an-the-way-i-performed-against-cyborg-santos/

Props: Gina Carano.YardBarker.com

Quoteworthy:

“I wanted to take time to collect my thoughts and speak from the heart rather than spew out some cliché anecdote about a tough loss. I know I am a better fighter than the way I performed that night and was heartbroken to not give more to those who have been inspired. However, I find some relief in knowing that this has never been only about me, and now more than ever I feel freedom to learn and grow at my own pace. I make it a point to constantly remind myself throughout this journey who I am, what I am doing, and why. Life is the most amazing gift and I want to live it for the right reasons. To my family, coaches, management… thank you from the bottom of my heart for believing in me, loving and encouraging me. Also a special thanks to the fans who support me from their computers at home, watch me on television and scream for me in the stadiums. Because of you, barriers have been broken down and you have inspired me to believe in a larger dream. Congratulations to Cris Cyborg and the women of MMA who have a great platform to shine. I am more excited than ever for female fighters and this amazing sport which has transformed my life. God Bless.”

Gina Carano, the previously undefeated face of female mixed martial arts, issues her first public remarks after suffering a first round technical knockout at the hands of Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos in the Strikeforce main event on Aug. 15. It was a high-profile match with the first-ever female 145-pound title up for grabs. Carano, however, could not handle the early blitzkrieg from the Brazilian and eventually succumbed to strikes with literally one second remaining in the opening frame. So where does Carano go from here — immediate rematch or does she build up her record, and confidence, in a handful of other match ups before getting a rematch?


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## HaVoK (Dec 31, 2006)

I firmly believe Gina has a strong will and huge heart. Like so many others, she needed this loss and I believe she will be back better then before. Good enough to beat Santos? Who knows.


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## T.Bone (Oct 15, 2008)

HaVoK said:


> I firmly believe Gina has a strong will and huge heart. Like so many others, she needed this loss and I believe she will be back better then before. Good enough to beat Santos? *No*.


Fixed.

Edit: I got negged for this so I feel I must explain my reasons further and why I think Carano would lose every time. 
Carano's a very talented striker probably more so, technically, than Santos, however her physical attributes will never be enough against a women of Santos' size. Carano would have to develope so much faster than Santos skill wise to ever stand a chance and atm they're both still learning, and it seems, at a similar pace, it just so happens that Santos has and always will have the size/strength advantage, the point is that Carano would have to be miles ahead of Santos in most aspects of her game to stand a chance and as they're both fairly new to the game and still have a lot to learn, it just won't happen.


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## Jamal (Aug 20, 2009)

IMO Gina will never be womens champ she fights like a WOMAN.

Look at how Cyborg beat her, she overpowered her and just hit her way harder, she fights like a man, she comes hard and fast.

Im not saying fighting like a woman is bad but if you wanna excel you gotta throw down like a dude, they reckon cyborg doesn't spar with women she spars with dudes cause she eats every female she spars with alive.

That says it all right there, Cyborg quoted it best

Q- How do you feel about Gina having the title of being the womans face of mma?
A - I dont care, she can have that title the one i care about is around my waist.


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## FCO (Sep 2, 2009)

Jamal said:


> IMO Gina will never be womens champ she fights like a WOMAN.
> 
> Look at how Cyborg beat her, she overpowered her and just hit her way harder, she fights like a man, she comes hard and fast.
> 
> ...


Unfortunately, I have to agree with the statement that the female fighter that fights the most like a dude will inevitably win a majority of the time. Gina is so easy on the eyes, but that seems to be a weakness too. The "ideal" figure for a female fighter is one that resembles a man, and Cyborg has this advantage. That being said, Gina definitely makes a better "face" for women's MMA!


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## attention (Oct 18, 2006)

Jamal said:


> IMO Gina will never be womens champ she fights like a WOMAN.
> 
> Look at how Cyborg beat her, she overpowered her and just hit her way harder, she fights like a man, she comes hard and fast.
> 
> Im not saying fighting like a woman is bad but if you wanna excel you gotta throw down like a dude, they reckon cyborg doesn't spar with women she spars with dudes cause she eats every female she spars with alive.


If I was a chick, I would be completely offended 

But I have to disagree with 'why' she lost.

IMHO, she lost because she tried to beat Cyborg at her own game... striking. Not because Gina strikes like a chick, nor because she is built like a chick, nor because she lacks 'man'-like strength.

I think Gina came out guns blazing not really setting up a strategy... heck, Gina even gave up dominate ground position and let Cyborg stand up...i was in disbelief when she did that. Clearly she wanted to get the KO and got hammered back to reality that she could not out striker her. 

I believe that Gina can get the title, but she wont get it by trying to beat Cyborg at her own game.


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## swpthleg (Dec 31, 2006)

Jamal said:


> IMO Gina will never be womens champ she fights like a WOMAN.
> 
> Look at how Cyborg beat her, she overpowered her and just hit her way harder, she fights like a man, she comes hard and fast.
> 
> ...


This is just discouraging.


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## FCO (Sep 2, 2009)

attention said:


> If I was a chick, I would be completely offended
> 
> But I have to disagree with 'why' she lost.
> 
> ...


Ha! Yeah, it is kind of offensive but there is a lot of truth to it. 

Anyway, Cyborg did out-strike her, and she is vicious! In response to the ground position, I was a bit surprised as well. But, in all honesty, I haven't really seen how good Gina's ground game is, and if she could have ground-and-pounded Cyborg. I would assume that Cyborg has decent BJJ because she is from Brazil... maybe Carano was afraid of her BJJ... I'm not sure.


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## QuackAttack (Sep 3, 2009)

T.Bone said:


> Fixed.
> 
> Edit: I got negged for this so I feel I must explain my reasons further and why I think Carano would lose every time.
> Carano's a very talented striker probably more so, technically, than Santos, however her physical attributes will never be enough against a women of Santos' size. Carano would have to develope so much faster than Santos skill wise to ever stand a chance and atm they're both still learning, and it seems, at a similar pace, it just so happens that Santos has and always will have the size/strength advantage, the point is that Carano would have to be miles ahead of Santos in most aspects of her game to stand a chance and as they're both fairly new to the game and still have a lot to learn, it just won't happen.


I think you guys are coming to conclusions way too fast. Gina will never beat Cyborg based on what? One bad night in the cage? And if memory serves me correctly, didn't Gina have mount twice? It seemed to me that Cyborg got off lucky that Gina was to reluctant to GnP Cyborg's face in. I will wait until Gina's next fight and see how will she does and if she learned anything, and I think you guys should too. A lot of renowned female fighters like Toughill and Larosa have stated that Gina could beat Cyborg. Cyborg isn't invincible like some posters are making her out to be.


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## Zemelya (Sep 23, 2007)

disagree with fighting like a woman part.

Gina was not aggressive enough and lost the initiative there... That's what made the difference 

Cyborg wasn't that effective in a fight with standup-less Japanese girl (Barnett's pupil)

Woman or Man style - one solid punch to the face will make change everything.,


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## joshua7789 (Apr 25, 2009)

Gina did have the mount a couple of times, but the way she wasnt even remotely close to being able to hold it is a testament to how much she was giving up in a physical advantage to cyborg. I dont think that she would ever have much of a chance against cyborg just because a the huge strength and size difference.


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## kamikaze145 (Oct 3, 2006)

joshua7789 said:


> Gina did have the mount a couple of times, but the way she wasnt even remotely close to being able to hold it is a testament to how much she was giving up in a physical advantage to cyborg. I dont think that she would ever have much of a chance against cyborg just because a the huge strength and size difference.


I think the fact she wasnt able to hold the mount has more to do with the fact that Cyborg is a purple belt in bjj and Carano is a few steps behind her as far as ground skill


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## Kreed (Feb 5, 2007)

I have said it time and time again that its just a shame that gina carano happened to be the first relatively attractive female mma-tist to come along..Because she lacks the drive,dicipline and confidence to not only be a top fighter but be a legitimate ambassador for the sport..All she is is a pretty face but womans mma needs more than that..She always has this "oh i'm just having fun and happy to be along for the ride" demeanour about her..She needs to step her game up because thus far shes been protected (until cyborg that is)


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## QuackAttack (Sep 3, 2009)

Kreed said:


> I have said it time and time again that its just a shame that gina carano happened to be the first relatively attractive female mma-tist to come along..Because she lacks the drive,dicipline and confidence to not only be a top fighter but be a legitimate ambassador for the sport..All she is is a pretty face but womans mma needs more than that..She always has this "oh i'm just having fun and happy to be along for the ride" demeanour about her..She needs to step her game up because thus far shes been protected (until cyborg that is)


Have any proof of your accusations? IMO, Gina has fought way better well-rounded opponents than Cyborg before their fight. Gina defeated a tough striker in Young (everyone was so sure that Gina would get KO), and submitted a submission specialist in Evinger. Also, Gina never ducks a tough opponent unlike most MMA fighters


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## swpthleg (Dec 31, 2006)

Don't forget she kicked an awful lot of ass when Master Toddy took her to Thailand.


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## Jamal (Aug 20, 2009)

Guys, i didnt mean to sound sexist that was not my intention at all.

but, there is a clear line between the level of tenacity and fortitude between the both.

Cyborg clearly fights way more aggressive than Gina period, if Gina is the face of Women's MMA then what is Cyborg??

Its all crap, Gina has that status because of her looks PERIOD

Watching Cyborg fight is much more entertaining and fun to watch, at the end of the day its a fight not a modelling contest.


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## FCO (Sep 2, 2009)

I'm not giving up on Gina yet. If she truly has the heart of a champion and has the desire to be a top contender in the sport, then I still believe she has potential and can learn from her loss. She will have to work her ass off for it though, it's not going to come easy. Female MMA has garnered a lot more publicity lately, and I suspect we will see stiffer competitors in the near future.


-Chris


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## QuackAttack (Sep 3, 2009)

Jamal said:


> Guys, i didnt mean to sound sexist that was not my intention at all.
> 
> but, there is a clear line between the level of tenacity and fortitude between the both.
> 
> ...


Being the face of women's MMA means that Gina is an ambassador for the females like Randy Couture is an ambassador for the UFC. It has absolutely nothing to do with being the best female fighter, and Gina has denounced being the face of Women's MMA over and over again. Not her fault that EliteXC was trying to hype into something that she's not. Gina has not once said that she was the best, and that she is still learning as a fighter.


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## Kreed (Feb 5, 2007)

QuackAttack said:


> Have any proof of your accusations? IMO, Gina has fought way better well-rounded opponents than Cyborg before their fight. Gina defeated a tough striker in Young (everyone was so sure that Gina would get KO), and submitted a submission specialist in Evinger. Also, Gina never ducks a tough opponent unlike most MMA fighters


Dude there arent really that many talented woman fighters at all so this is all relative


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## swpthleg (Dec 31, 2006)

There are, they are just having difficulty finding sponsors because of attitudes like yours.


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## mtt_c (Jun 15, 2008)

Cyborg clearly fights way more aggressive than Gina period, if Gina is the face of Women's MMA then what is Cyborg??

Its all crap, Gina has that status because of her looks PERIOD


I think her wins against 7 female fighters had something to do with this as well. She's getting railed because she's hot...give me a break. With all honestly, how many female fighters can you name other than Caranno, Cyborg, and the women who fought Gina? 

Cyborg won, she fought her type of fight and can carry the sport as far as she can. This doesn't mean Gina is a paper fighter.


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## mtt_c (Jun 15, 2008)

I'll volunteer to comfort her.


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## Kreed (Feb 5, 2007)

swpthleg said:


> There are, they are just having difficulty finding sponsors because of attitudes like yours.


Maybe they are having difficulty finding sponsors because they are choosing to go the tara larosa route and stick with an obscure org instead of signing with an organisation that's on cable? 


btw please skool me on these talented females that have been unfortunate to miss the limelight


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## swpthleg (Dec 31, 2006)

They're unknowns. As in, they're out there, but they haven't become famous yet.

I'm sure most of them, whoever they are, if a major promotion came knocking, they'd be on board.


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## Kreed (Feb 5, 2007)

swpthleg said:


> They're unknowns. As in, they're out there, but they haven't become famous yet.
> 
> I'm sure most of them, whoever they are, if a major promotion came knocking, they'd be on board.


So in other words you dont even know they exist..Pretty dumb to make a statement about gina's courage in fighting all comers when you are clueless about the talent pool


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## QuackAttack (Sep 3, 2009)

Kreed said:


> So in other words you dont even know they exist..Pretty dumb to make a statement about gina's courage in fighting all comers when you are clueless about the talent pool


LOL at some keyboard warrior questioning the courage of someone that steps in the cage. Like I said, Gina could have ducked Cyborg her whole career, but she maned up and faced her. She loses, so what? Does that make her less of a fighter? Does that automatically erase her previous 7-0 winning streak, and her Muay Thai record of 12-1-1? No it doesn't.


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## Kreed (Feb 5, 2007)

QuackAttack said:


> LOL at some keyboard warrior questioning the courage of someone that steps in the cage. Like I said, Gina could have ducked Cyborg her whole career, but she maned up and faced her. She loses, so what? Does that make her less of a fighter? Does that automatically erase her previous 7-0 winning streak, and her Muay Thai record of 12-1-1? No it doesn't.


LOL at this prepubescent teenager getting emotional over someone criticizing his make believe girlfriend..Who thehell questioned her courage? some clown said she doesnt duck opponents and I said the pool isnt deep enough for woman like her to start cherry picking..I do however question her grit and perseverance though.
And If you couldnt see how crushed she was when cyborg was picking her apart then you should probably get yourself a porn mag and do the five knuckle shuffle before watching her matches because your mind was obviously on something else other than the fight...


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## QuackAttack (Sep 3, 2009)

Kreed said:


> LOL at this prepubescent teenager getting emotional over someone criticizing his make believe girlfriend..Who thehell questioned her courage? some clown said she doesnt duck opponents and I said the pool isnt deep enough for woman like her to start cherry picking..I do however question her grit and perseverance though.
> And If you couldnt see how crushed she was when cyborg was picking her apart then you should probably get yourself a porn mag and do the five knuckle shuffle before watching her matches because your mind was obviously on something else other than the fight...


There's plenty of women to fight other than Cyborg at her weight. Marloes, Cindy, Gomes, Yoko, Berto, Porto, Toughill, etc. Anyone one of those girls Gina could of easily "cherry picked." Stop pretending that other talent doesn't exist.


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## Kreed (Feb 5, 2007)

QuackAttack said:


> There's plenty of women to fight other than Cyborg at her weight. Marloes, Cindy, Gomes, Yoko, Berto, Porto, Toughill, etc. Anyone one of those girls Gina could of easily "cherry picked." Stop pretending that other talent doesn't exist.


There seems to be a communication problem here..Did I say that female fighters dont exist at 145 or did I say there weren't talented female fighters out there yet
Because all you are doing is mentioning names but are they talented? Cindy Dandois for instance is 1-0..Can you gauge talent from someone that is 1-0? :confused03: You put yoko there, is that yoko hamada (3-1) or yoko takashi who is a whopping 15-10..Gomes 0-2,Berto is 3-0 but who has she beaten? look at brett rogers in the run up to the AA fight he was 9-0 but did that make him talented? who had he beaten that wasnt a tomato can? hell when you watch him fight you realize he isnt much different than tank abbott.. 

Like I said you just threw out any name u could find but (outside form porto/coenen) those girls arent legit


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## QuackAttack (Sep 3, 2009)

Kreed said:


> There seems to be a communication problem here..Did I say that female fighters dont exist at 145 or did I say there weren't talented female fighters out there yet
> Because all you are doing is mentioning names but are they talented? Cindy Dandois for instance is 1-0..Can you gauge talent from someone that is 1-0? :confused03: You put yoko there, is that yoko hamada (3-1) or yoko takashi who is a whopping 15-10..Gomes 0-2,Berto is 3-0 but who has she beaten? look at brett rogers in the run up to the AA fight he was 9-0 but did that make him talented? who had he beaten that wasnt a tomato can? hell when you watch him fight you realize he isnt much different than tank abbott..
> 
> Like I said you just threw out any name u could find but (outside form porto/coenen) those girls arent legit


Cindy comes from a strong judo background and just defeated Coenen who was 16-2 at the time. Defeating the then #1 female fighter in the featherweight division in her first MMA fight takes some talent, imo. But you're probably going to argue that just makes the division weaker. However, that's not the point I was trying to make. The point was that there is plenty of fighters in Gina's weight division to "cherry pick" from, which you argued against. Gina could have decided not to take the fight with Cyborg and continued to pad her record, but she didn't.


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## Kreed (Feb 5, 2007)

QuackAttack said:


> Cindy comes from a strong judo background and just defeated Coenen who was 16-2 at the time. Defeating the then #1 female fighter in the featherweight division in her first MMA fight takes some talent, imo. But you're probably going to argue that just makes the division weaker. However, that's not the point I was trying to make. The point was that there is plenty of fighters in Gina's weight division to "cherry pick" from, which you argued against. Gina could have decided not to take the fight with Cyborg and continued to pad her record, but she didn't.


Do you even know if she had a choice? if you hadn't noticed scott coker aint really trying to build fighters that already have name recognition..If there is an opportunity to do the money match at the next event he will make it happen like armageddon was 2tomorrow. Whether its lack of depth or the non exclusive contract structure, its just the way he runs things.I remember when strikforce bought elite xc contracts and gina held out (while in hibernation)..And he used the football analogy that summer camp has started and she is no where to be seen..How much do you want to bet that was about refusing to fight cyborg unless her salary matched the mens..Not really a fearless warrior that will take on all comers is she..More like a woman looking for as much as she can get using the cyborg situation to negotiate a new deal probably hoping that coker wouldn't cave in to her lofty demands and she could use that as an excuse not to fight..


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## QuackAttack (Sep 3, 2009)

Kreed said:


> Do you even know if she had a choice? if you hadn't noticed scott coker aint really trying to build fighters that already have name recognition..If there is an opportunity to do the money match at the next event he will make it happen like armageddon was 2tomorrow. Whether its lack of depth or the non exclusive contract structure, its just the way he runs things.I remember when strikforce bought elite xc contracts and gina held out (while in hibernation)..And he used the football analogy that summer camp has started and she is no where to be seen..How much do you want to bet that was about refusing to fight cyborg unless her salary matched the mens..Not really a fearless warrior that will take on all comers is she..More like a woman looking for as much as she can get using the cyborg situation to negotiate a new deal probably hoping that coker wouldn't cave in to her lofty demands and she could use that as an excuse not to fight..


All fighters have a choice on who they fight, unless it says specially in the contract that they have to fight a certain person. What is Coker going to do if she said no? Point a gun to her head? Gina held out as long as she did because she wanted to get paid what she's worth. Her EliteXC contracts were crap, and she wanted to renegotiate. Gina was EliteXC's biggest star next to Kimbo, but she didn't even get paid a quarter of what he made. Her pay days were 20,000 a fight. 20,000 May be a lot for some fighters, but not a lot for a household name recognized fighter like Gina.


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## Kreed (Feb 5, 2007)

QuackAttack said:


> All fighters have a choice. What is Coker going to do if she said no? Point a gun to her head? Gina held out as long as she did because she wanted to get paid what she's worth. Her EliteXC contracts were crap, and she wanted to renegotiate. Gina was EliteXC's biggest star next to Kimbo, but she didn't even get paid a quarter of what he made. Her pay days were 20,000 a fight. 20,000 May be a lot for some fighters, but not a lot for a household name recognized fighter like Gina.


You are just repeating what I said, why she held out is obvious like I already stated in the post u quoted..But its the other bit of politics that I am talking about.I dont think she had a choice per se, sure its her free will to sign or not to sign the doted line..But if she had the option to fight cyborg or some 6-3 broad do you really think she would not choose the 6-3 broad..But the option was not given to her because like I said coker wants to make money matches as soon as they're available...We also dont know how many years/fights she has left on her elie xc contract so maybe she has to fulfil that if she wants her raise and if she wants her raise she needs (well needed) to meet cyborg, get the picture..


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## kantowrestler (Jun 6, 2009)

*Gina's Contract*

This a little known fact, but Gina's contract was not one of the contracts bout in the EliteXC buy out. She was picked up in a renegotiated deal. So the contract she has with Strikeforce right now wasn't bout out from EliteXC.


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## Kreed (Feb 5, 2007)

kantowrestler said:


> This a little known fact, but Gina's contract was not one of the contracts bout in the EliteXC buy out. She was picked up in a renegotiated deal. So the contract she has with Strikeforce right now wasn't bout out from EliteXC.


Dude months after the dust had settled from the demise of elite she was doing interviews and everyone was saying "when are we going to see gina" And she replied there is a lot of contract stuff going on I am still actually contractually signed to elite, so I cant do anything right now but once I get that sorted out you will see me fighting" Months after that we hear that strikeforce has absorbed pro elite including all elite xc contracts..So strikeforce did buyout her contract only she used her celebrity and coker's desperation (to make the cyborg fight) to hold out and restructure her contract


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## machidaisgod (Aug 14, 2009)

The only thing that no-talent thing did was try and cover her face and turn her back to another fighter lolololol....well that is her only talent really.....:thumb02:


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## kantowrestler (Jun 6, 2009)

*Wtf?!*

Dude, Did You Even Watch The Fight?! Gina Stood And Slugged It Out With Cyborg Multiple Times And Grappled With Her! She Just So Happened To Get Caught And Taken Down At That Last Time! If You Don't Have Anything Constructive To Say About Her Last Fight Then Don't Say Anything At All!!!


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## Pr0d1gy (Sep 25, 2006)

There is absolutely nothing wrong with how Gina fights. She is very skilled in all aspects of MMA and just got overpowered by a roided up she-male. Females cannot build that kind of muscle naturally, it is physically impossible, so before you neg me for telling the truth go do some research. 

Gina is the better fighter, Cyborg is the better cheater. She was ugly as hell to begin with so I could see why she would do all those steroids and get herself built like a man, but it's sad that they put her in the same ring as women who still look like women.


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