Cyborg Santos vs Hitomi Akano: Wonderful Fighters, Awful Fight
by Emma May on Apr 12, 2009 12:20 PM EDT
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Promoted from the Fan Posts by Kid Nate.
On April 11, 2009, Christiane "Cyborg" Santos fought Hitomi "Girlfight Monster" Akano in a women’s mixed martial arts contest. Both women displayed an impressive skill set and Akano was stopped in the third round. This was the first Strikeforce card to be aired live on Showtime. A small step for mixed martial arts, a giant leap for female MMA. Too bad it was a total joke.
We watched as Santos dominated the fight. She threw Akano around the ring, fearlessly flurried her with punches and treated her to more than a little ground and pound. When Akano wasn’t desperately trying to take Santos down, she was running backwards. She worked constantly to isolate an arm or a leg in a vain effort to secure a submission. Akano displayed heart and grit and an ability to survive two and a half rounds of punishment from one of the worlds most repected MMA fighters.
It was the outcome everyone expected and no one wanted to see. At the weigh-in one day earlier, Santos tipped the scales at 152 pounds for the scheduled 145 pound contest. Akano was 143 pounds. The fight was nearly called off, but Santos managed to sweat off 1.5 pounds and behind the scenes Strikeforce sweetened the deal for Akano, who is a natural 135 pound fighter.
These women deserve better. At what could be the peak of her career, Santos deserves a proper challenge. Akano, presently at the tail-end of her trailblazing career, deserves a fair fight. If Strikeforce wishes to include female fighters on their roster, then they owe it to them to treat their matchmaking with care. I understand that it is likely difficult to find big, skilled, female mixed martial artists willing to face the likes of Cyborg. But to just pluck a star from overseas and try to cram them into a ridiculous matchup is an insult to the fighters and mixed martial arts in general.
So, thank you, Strikeforce. People like me who care about women’s MMA wish to see talented women involved in televised events. These same people also need to take a closer look at the problems with the organization, promotion and politics of the sport. Now we know what needs to change. The question is, does anyone care enough to change it?
The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Bloody Elbow readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bloody Elbow editors or staff.
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I think you're confused
It was the outcome everyone expected and no one wanted to see. At the weigh-in one day earlier, Santos tipped the scales at 158 pounds for the scheduled 145 pound contest. Akano was 143 pounds. The fight was nearly called off, but Santos managed to sweat off 8 pounds and behind the scenes Strikeforce sweetened the deal for Akano, who is a natural 135 pound fighter
Santos weighed in at 152, 7 pounds over. She managed to get down to 150.5 and the CSAC allowed the fight to go on. If she had weighed in at 158 the bout would have been scrapped for sure. I think this is where you are getting that number from:
"Cyborg" was weighed once again after midnight local time and according to Coker, her camp informed him she was at 158 pounds. For a natural 135 pounder like Akano, this is a huge weight discrepancy.
The commission should've stopped this fight from happening.
by Derek Suboticki on Apr 12, 2009 1:34 PM EDT up reply actions
ufc4 is right about the weight
But that fight was crap long before Cyborg failed the weight. I admit that there are not too many gals at Cyborg/Gina’s weight who are of comparable skill, but there are enough that this fight didn’t need to happen.
"I see him beating Anderson Silva. I see him picking him apart. Him at a 131 years old...(trails off)." - Tito on Belfort at Affliction:DOR
Agreed
And if they couldn’t find someone at that weight that was a worthy opponent then they should have just waited for Gina to sign. Last night hurt Gina vs. Cyborg more than it helped.
While I agree with the article, I don't see how last night's fight hurt Carano vs Cyborg more than it helped.
Can you clarify how it hurt the bout? Obviously, this was a showcase fight for Cyborg, and it is not anything new for an MMA organization to have a fight as a tune-up/showcase fight for someone that they want to promote. Cyborg was on the main card of the lowest rated EliteXC card on CBS, and had only clips (not the full fight) of her prelim fight on the very last EliteXC card on CBS, so it just seems that Strikeforce needed to showcase her to the fans for an upcoming Cyborg vs Carano fight.
The way it hurts is now all everyone is going to be talking about in the leadup to the fight is not about how awesome of a fight this is going to be against 2 amazingly skilled fighters, all the talk is going to be about if one or both of them is going to miss weight. If you are trying to showcase a fighter you want them to perform against somebody who you think at least had a shot at defeating them, not someone who you have such an obvious advantage over that the majority of the people I have heard from think that the CSAC shouldn’t have allowed the fight to even happen. I just see all the coverage of the one women’s MMA fight that everyone has been looking forward to not being about the actual fight, and that’s sad.
I see what you are saying
But I think that it may be over-exaggerating that EVERYONE is going to be talking about the weight thing instead of the fight. It will be an issue though because both have missed weight in the past, but I just feel that the EVERYONE you are talking about will be the hardcore MMA fans like us who go on these websites. If Strikeforce decides a suitable weight that both are able to make like 150 lbs, then there really should be no problem.
I always had the impression that showcase/tune-up fights tended to be mismatches like CroCop vs Eddie Sanchez, Rampage vs Eastman, or Gonzaga vs Hendricks. Of course there are cases like Houston Alexander vs Jardine or dos Santos vs Werdum, but for the most part I always thought that they were one-sided.
As a huge women’s MMA fan, watching this on Showtime (surrounded by a full card of great, ostensibly competitive men’s matchups) just made me sad. All anyone can take away from this fight is that Hitomi Akano has tremendous heart, and she’s owed a nice dinner by the teammates who will get fights with Strikeforce due to her and Shu Hirata’s backstage maneuvering.
So if they make Cyborg vs. Gina for a title
What weight will they fight at? If it’s a headlining championship bout they can’t possibly risk one or both of them missing weight.
I agree with you 100%
As far as the weight goes she came in at 152, cut down to 150.5 or something like that, and then during the negotiations to make the fight happen she ballooned back up to 158. I read it somewhere but don’t remember where.
Damn, front page of Yahoo. That’s crazy.
by Chris Nelson on Apr 12, 2009 1:22 PM EDT up reply actions
You know what's gonna be weird about the Cyborg/Carano bout?
A bunch of folks will be booing Cyborg for not making weight for this fight while they’re completely unaware that Carano has practically made a career on it.
"I see him beating Anderson Silva. I see him picking him apart. Him at a 131 years old...(trails off)." - Tito on Belfort at Affliction:DOR
by Rundownloser on Apr 12, 2009 1:24 PM EDT up reply actions 4 recs
can't get naked at a weigh-in...
if it isn’t close to over.
If you see Mark Coleman in person, drop $5 on the floor and watch the fun as he tries in vain to bend down and pick it up.
We always are fed the line that “there aren’t many good female fighters at 145.” It’s like there’s Gina and Cyborg and no one else. There’s Marloes Coenen who Cyborg was supposed to fight before the Strikeforce deal went through. What about Erin Toughill? Miesha Tate has fought at 145 and won. Then, there are those that I’m not mentioning and those that I’m not aware of. I understand Strikeforce not wanting to match Cyborg up with someone that’s very dangerous (Coenen) or one of their up-and-comers (Tate). I think it’s a little disingenuous to say that there aren’t women out there that match up better from a size perspective than Akano, however.
Sure there are several, but even with all those names, there doesn’t seem to be enough for a 145 lbs. division. Additionally, I think one legitimate question is “what really is their weight?” If we go with 145 lbs., there are names that come to mind. However, given their recent weight issues, one wonders if 145 lbs. is just something they don’t want to deal with anymore. If that’s the case, things get thinner still.
"I see him beating Anderson Silva. I see him picking him apart. Him at a 131 years old...(trails off)." - Tito on Belfort at Affliction:DOR
by Rundownloser on Apr 12, 2009 1:49 PM EDT up reply actions
"Enough" is a relative term. Strikeforce is really only pushing two women. My point is they should be able to find women that are closer in size to match against Cyborg and Gina. Even if Cyborg had hit weight, this was a bad matchup from the perspective of competition.
Speaking to your second point, I have no idea what their weight is or should be. It’s a difficult conclusion to draw when no promotion seems willing to closely adhere to specific weight classes. I’d like to see the promotions use the divisions under the unified rules and raise the bar on punishment for not making weight It shouldn’t be an afterthought. Size is an important factor in female MMA just as it is in male MMA. Trying to manage the situation too much by booking mismatches makes the sport appear less like a sport.
by Cannon Jacques on Apr 12, 2009 2:05 PM EDT up reply actions
I agree that Strikeforce is really only pushing Carano and Cyborg (which might show an uncharacteristic lack of foresight from Mr. Coker). I was only saying that though there are several fighters that Cyborg/Carano should be matched up against before Akano, it’s not like there’s very many (5+). It makes the male Heavyweight division look like the male Lightweight’s. That said, I think the Akano matchup was ridiculous and disappointing.
And what I was trying to get across with my second point was this: given the weight issues that Cyborg and Carano have had, 145 lbs. might be the wrong weight to be talking about anyway. And if that is the case, the number of decent matchups, already not a very big number, plummets.
Lastly, the unified rules have weight divisions for females? Wow. I seriously had no idea, but it’s not like promoters have been to keen on them anyway.
"I see him beating Anderson Silva. I see him picking him apart. Him at a 131 years old...(trails off)." - Tito on Belfort at Affliction:DOR
by Rundownloser on Apr 12, 2009 2:33 PM EDT up reply actions
I think the unified rules have divisions that are mainly used for men, but have been used for women also. Featherweight is Cyborg’s supposed division. The specific weights aren’t all that important if promotions will utilize one set of parameters. I understand your points. I think we can agree that Strikeforce could have done better than Akano.
If 145 is not the ‘correct’ weight for the two women in question, female MMA may have a huge problem since these are the two most visible athletes in the sport. Based on history, Cyborg should be able to make 145, and so should Gina. Something physiological could have changed for each, but I simply can’t account for that. Gina has had a tough time making 140, but she’s always been under 145. Cyborg made 140 against Baszler last summer and looked impressive in that fight.
by Cannon Jacques on Apr 12, 2009 2:44 PM EDT up reply actions
I don’t mean to limit their reasons for not being interested in 145 lbs. to something purely physiological. I think it’s entirely possible neither of them wants to anymore and/or feels that they need to so as to continue getting fights. Clearly, everybody, including the CSAC now, look to be willing to bend over backwards for them.
"I see him beating Anderson Silva. I see him picking him apart. Him at a 131 years old...(trails off)." - Tito on Belfort at Affliction:DOR
by Rundownloser on Apr 12, 2009 2:51 PM EDT up reply actions
This fight was for Cyborg what Jardine and Evans were supposed to be for Liddell – someone to crush en route to bigger things. The really bad part is that they not only brought in someone who is naturally lighter and then let Cyborg show up weighing what the damn ever she wanted.
The problem is, this didn’t exactly give Santos much kudos or lift for the eventual Carano fight. She beat someone whose regular weight class is something like two notches below what she (Santos) showed up weighing. It was like sending Lesnar against Fitch – hardly a fair matchup.
Sure, by the time Cyborg-Carano rolls around, the Strikeforce hype machine will do everything they can to make us forget this – but given the way they both have failed to make weight… how about just making it an openweight bout and be done with the weigh-ins?
by Monday Morning Martial Artist on Apr 12, 2009 2:13 PM EDT reply actions
Cyborg would have been about as big even if she made weight…all she did was not cut the last water pounds. This fight never should have happened.
by Michael Rome on Apr 12, 2009 2:55 PM EDT reply actions 5 recs
That fight tainted my view of the whole show. I’ll at least give some props to the announcer who said her win was lackluster due to failure to make weight.
Yeah, who got the final Death Blow? 'Cause I thought that Hawaiian guy had it comin' to him. - C. K.
by monkeyfightclub! on Apr 12, 2009 4:56 PM EDT reply actions
Kind of off-topic, but
if Strikeforce wants a marketable opponent for the winner of Cyborg/Carano who is in the same weight range, they should sign Erin Toughill. She’s a skilled, naturally large opponent who at 5’10" has a hell of a lot of reach, plus she has marketable looks, and was the most famous female fighter in MMA back in like 2004 when it was much more obscure. For a long time she fought at 155-165 in both MMA and boxing, but she’s getting down to 148 for her next fight (for PFC), and has made it clear she wants a fight with Gina.
by Chromium on Apr 12, 2009 10:13 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
Well, we know why she didn’t get Cyborg before Cyborg-Carano…
She might have won.
by Monday Morning Martial Artist on Apr 13, 2009 3:50 AM EDT up reply actions
Gia Carano vs Laila Ali
It needs to happen.
If you see Mark Coleman in person, drop $5 on the floor and watch the fun as he tries in vain to bend down and pick it up.
Won’t happen – I don’t see Ali agreeing to a MMA match and Gina would get killed in a boxing match.
by Monday Morning Martial Artist on Apr 13, 2009 3:52 AM EDT up reply actions
I could see it happening for the right money, not like Gina is taking it to the ground. Gina is a serious striker, much better than people realize. Gina’s a legit muay thai champ and much, much better on her feet than people give her credit for. She’s probably going to embarrass Cyborg standing.
by Michael Rome on Apr 13, 2009 4:29 AM EDT up reply actions
I have a hard time seeing Gina knocking out Cyborg, but I think she’s a much better technical striker. I think Cyborg will clinch and take her down. Cyborg would be crazy to allow Gina to pick her apart from a distance. She’s got the strength and wrestling ability to punish Gina on the ground, in my opinion.
by Cannon Jacques on Apr 13, 2009 2:27 PM EDT up reply actions
I don’t think it’s in Cyborg’s nature at all to take the fight to the ground. I also think this will be the first time in MMA we see Gina fully trained for a fight, she’s been balancing so much crap and then doing 2 week training camps for her last 2 fights. I’ve been watching a lot of the Thailand stuff and the amateur bouts on K-1 undercards, she’s light years ahead of the rest of the girls in MMA.
I think this will look a lot like Wand and Mirko’s second fight in that Cyborg will finally be fighting someone that can actually hit back just as hard and has much better footwork and striking.
by Michael Rome on Apr 13, 2009 4:25 PM EDT up reply actions
Just because Cyborg can take the fight to the ground doesn’t mean she’s going to. As much as she likes to stand and exchange I’m surprised you can’t see Gina knocking her out, it’s not like Cyborg is the Demian Maia of women’s MMA.
Did she knock out Kelly Kobold who is a far worse striker a much smaller than Cyborg? The Kaitlin Young match was stopped, but it could easily be regarded as a premature doctor stoppage. Maybe, Cyborg hasn’t taken the fight to the ground in the past, because she hasn’t had to. Her wrestling and sub defense against Baszler looked pretty formidable. She doesn’t have to be Demian Maia. I don’t even see a sub as a likely result either way.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m a fan of Gina’s fighting. I just don’t see this potential match as clear victory for her. Cyborg is bigger and stronger than most of Gina’s past opponents. Certainly, Gina can win a standup striking battle, but this isn’t a K-1 fight. Maybe, Gina’s ground skills are better than I’m giving her credit for. I think Cyborg could be tough in close as well. If she’s not willing to go to the mat in the event she’s losing on the feet, she doesn’t deserve to win. I think assuming Cyborg will let Gina fight her game is kind of a leap of faith. Whether she can stop Gina from doing what she does best is a whole other question.
by Cannon Jacques on Apr 13, 2009 10:12 PM EDT up reply actions
She didn’t knock out Kobold, but Kobold’s entire strategy was to clinch up against the fence working for a takedown, and about 2 minutes of each round was taken up in that. This is not how Cyborg fights. Gina can be criticized for not being able to get Kobold off her, but in the fleeting moments of the fight that were standing she made Kelly look awful.
The leap of faith is assuming Cyborg will do anything different than she always does. She moves forward relentlessly. She fights like Wanderlei Silva. When Silva fought Chuck, yes, he had a technical BJJ advantage. He didn’t use it, because it’s not how he fights. Just like Rich Franklin didn’t try to take Anderson down. Fighters don’t change overnight, they stick with what works, and I don’t think what has worked for Cyborg will work against Gina.
by Michael Rome on Apr 14, 2009 2:43 PM EDT up reply actions
I don’t know how the fight will transpire, nor do I pretend to. That’s what makes it an interesting. I will say, however, that Cyborg’s size and strength is something that could give Gina problems if utilized correctly. Kobold was game, no doubt. She was simply too small, Gina’s takedown defense was too good, and the rounds were too short for her to make her plan work, given her abilities. If the fight takes place at distance, I’d certainly give Gina the nod. If it’s at close proximity, I think Cyborg’s skills give her a good chance.
by Cannon Jacques on Apr 14, 2009 8:14 PM EDT up reply actions
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