weo’s twitter thing said Jim Rome’s show was taping her working out, but that’s not airing until Friday, it would have been nice to get a little more hype going into this show during this week, or at least have something to talk about besides Nick Diaz.

that this fight hasn’t been promoted well outside of the hardcore fanbase. Even though I thought Loretta Hunt made a completely asinine statement saying that this fight would draw more mainstream press than UFC 100, it did have potential. It’s a shame that either A) SF has no idea how to promote a big fight outside of San Jose or B) that they don’t have the funds to do large scale promoting.

Without Carano in it?

And have another division that doesn’t have the “best fighter in the world” in it…? Lol…

maybe that’s a no-no, since it’s an NBC show, and they’ve got a deal in place with CBS? then again… they probably mentioned it during the EXC CBS shows, so i’m probably reaching. but for what it’s worth, i believe american gladiators was cancelled, so maybe it didn’t have a following big enough to bother going after any crossover fans? either way, i agree with you that there should be a stronger push for this card.

Here is the problem with this, and with every other fight organization that isn’t Zuffa.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Hzyn8IcHIE

A video from Showtime, on it Mauro says the fight “markets itself.” No fight markets itself. It may seem like the UFC markets itself, but that’s only because they have done so much marketing in the past, and so much current marketing now that we hardly even notice it.

I’m glad to see you admitted your err when stating Carano would get more press than UFC 100. I’m almost fell out of my chair when I read that. There are so many factors as to why this wouldn’t get the press it’s hard to see how you missed it.

What does this fight, let alone card have going for it? It’s two girls, one is hot and it’s for the first girls belt. That’s it.

Now lets get to the reasons it’s not getting pub. The biggest reason is that it’s not on CBS. CBS gets big coverage because it’s a major network and can pull strings. Showtime is no slouch but it’s not CBS.

Next, women’s mma is not all that is cracked up to be. I would conside rmyself a hardcore fan yet I cannot name the top 3 women in any of the weight classes nor do I even know what the weight classes are beside 145lb. I do know that beside the two women fighting there’s not really any other girls who fight competitively at that weight so congrats to the winner, you are the champion of nothing. On top of that Carano hasn’t fought in almost a year nor been advertised on Gladiators in about the same time (when did that show get canceled anyway?) and both fighters have had trouble making weight, Carano in particular. Name a male fighter who is fighting for a championship that has needed extra time or failed to make weight on more than one occasion (not just the championship fight).

Probably an area we haven’t looked at is the UFC backwash from both UFC 100 and now 101. Both cards drew a lot of attention, espcially 100, and has really cemented UFC as the brand to beat. I think having mma being replaced by UFC on yahoo should be the clearest indicator of that. Strikeforce, whether they think they are competing with UFC or not, will have to answer in all areas, quality, importance, storylines, etc, to what UFC offers as the UFC is not only destroying mma competitors but it’s making a push towards being a “major league” in the minds of sports fans (that is why the UFC can get better w/o direct competition Sam Caplan, because it’s competing with NFL, MLB, and not other mma sponsors).

Finally, and I don’t care about how sexist it sounds, but I could give a crap about women’s sports. I don’t watch WNBA, WSL (soccer league), women’s hockey, etc. When the media used to give a crap about boxing, can anyone name a big drawing female boxer? Only one I can even remember is that girl with all the blood from like ’97 and Hillary Swank in Million Dollar Baby.

So good luck Strikeforce trying to get anyone to give a dang. Actually I don’t. I wish nothing good for you since everyday you exist you keep the UFC from solidyfing itself as a premiere sports league. I’m sorry that everyone in San Jose/Stockton/Lodi will miss you when you’re gone. Have fun promoting 120lb’ers vs. Carano/Cyborg forever.

honest Leland. The female MMA fight scene with never grow enough to stand on its own. Look at all the success women sports have in the US. WNBA, softball, soccer are all huge flops.

This might sound mean but men don’t want to pay to watch female athletes compete. This entire she is “hot” crap came from the shady side of the internet that hope it turns into a naked brawl. I would much rather see an ugly female athlete succeed than a hot over rated one fail.

Re: "Do we need to see two “hot” beauties battle it out for that to happen? Perhaps they need to be both “hot” and very good in the sport?"

“Good in the sport” is mandatory, assuming one wants long-term growth and not a one shot deal. As for “hot”, not necessarily, but they do have to be charismatic, articulate and fluent in English (or have an excellent interpreter that allows the athlete’s personality to shine through). They also need some coaching on how to handle tv appearances vs print interviews, and how to handle the inevitable asinine and repetitive questions. ideally, they should have some story behind them, “tough childhood”, “captain of their college wrestling team”, “former ice skater / soldier / ballerina turns to mma”, “have famous mentor”, etc. (And really, everyone has a story if you brainstorm for awhile). If you want the marketers to spin, they need to have something to spin.

And unquestionably not enough has been done to promote Cyborg, which is an absolute shame. A fight involves two people, and for a successful promotion you need to create a buzz around both of them.