"On my final thought, which stems from a comment I made in a previous Doggy Bag, I got a little flack for stating in June that Carano would "garner more press and media attention" than UFC 100.

I am happy to report I was dead wrong. I underestimated the sheer adrenaline shot UFC 100 would shoot into the sport’s arm. From their phenomenal two-day expo (the best I’ve ever attended) to the actual event, the UFC gave the media a lot to write about, which is great for them and the sport. What’s better is the community is still feeling the buzz from UFC 100. This event might truly be looked at as a milestone when all is said and done.

Please excuse my overzealousness. Sometimes it causes me to go out on a limb and make dubious predictions. That said, I do think Carano more than pulled her weight in the press department, and I look forward to seeing her, joined by Ms. Cyborg, gain much more in the future."

-- Loretta Hunt, News Editor of Sherdog.com.

The idea that Carano could pull the promotional yoke by herself and do so to the point where she was garnering more media attention than all of what the UFC machine can do at their quasi-centennial event would've been the ultimate John Henry story, but like Henry, it's all fantasy. The idea was never realistic to begin with and ultimately Hunt is correct when she says Carano "more than pulled her weight in the press department." This entire situation reveals that the expectations and demands heaped on Carano even by those who either admire her personally or believe in her tremendous abilities as a fighter and personality are all too often overwhelming.

Today on "MMA Nation" we'll be joined by Josh Gross, former Executive Editor of Sherdog.com and current MMA writer for Sports Illustrated. We'll talk to Gross about Anderson Silva's alleged interest in a move to the UFC's heavyweight division.

We'll also be joined in studio by BE's Founding Editor Kid Nate. Nate will be on hand to talk about last week's Carano vs. Cyborg, a potential Anderson Silva vs. Randy Couture bout and much more.

"MMA Nation" airs every Saturday 7:00pm EST to 9:00pm EST on 106.7 The Fan. TODAY THE SHOW WILL BEGIN AT 7:30 pm EST. To listen live over the Internet, go to The Fan's website and click "Listen Live".

I'm also now on Twitter: @mmanation.

"MMA Nation" is also available by podcast on iTunes.

Number to call: 800-636-1067

Email here.

Talk to you then.

  Dave Meltzer is high on the women's achievement:

The Carano vs. Santos main event itself did a 2.9 rating and 856,000 viewers, adding 17 percent over the audience from the preceding Gegard Mousasi vs. Renato Sobral light heavyweight title match. Those numbers were far ahead of any MMA match ever on the network.

Also impressive is that the card did these numbers on a short show, as MMA events on television generally will draw better when they are longer, because the pattern is people will find out about the show and stick with it, and a longer show has a higher ratings advantage.

From a ratings standpoint, which throws out the obvious advantage a show on Spike or CBS would have because they are seen in more homes than Showtime, the match was not close to a ratings record-setting event for the sport. But it was the highest rating for an MMA match or event in the U.S. this year, even though as far as total audience, any first-run UFC television show on Spike will have more actual viewers.

And while the UFC touted their replay of UFC 100 on Spike beat every other sporting contest on that evening in the ratings in the male demographic of 18-34 year olds, it's worth looking at what the huge volume of other numbers do to the broader ratings context. Namely, more than 12 million people tuned in to see Tiger Woods lose to Y. E. Yang in the PGA Championship, an achievement MMA in North America hasn't even sniffed:

Nielsen Media Research says its overnight measurements of big cities found ratings for the golf tournament up 150 percent over 2008. Only 4 million people watched the final round last year. Woods was injured and didn't play in the tournament, and the Summer Olympics were televised at the same time.

Nielsen and CBS don't yet have a precise estimate of the audience nationally for this year. In the metered markets, it was the best PGA final round since 2002, when Woods lost by a stroke to Rich Beem.

The golf tournament led directly into "60 Minutes," which featured Vick's interview about his prison time for running a dogfighting operation. CBS estimates that some 12.6 million people were watching the network between 7 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, when the golf tournament ended and "60 Minutes" began with its interview with Vick, who signed with the Philadelphia Eagles last week.

Long gone are the days of Gina Carano's pathetic EliteXC contract.  According to information released by CSAC, she was the top earner on a card filled with men this past Saturday, and earned $125,000 in defeat.  The next highest earner was Renato "Babalu" Sobral who earned $75,000 in defeat.  Gegard Mousasi only earned $2,000, but I think it's pretty obvious the majority of his salary was paid in another form, because there's just no way he earned only $2,000. 

At the post-show press conference, Josh Gross asked a number of male fighters what they thought about fighting on a card with a female main event.  Instead of taking the bait, they chose to praise the women and said it was great.  What will they think about earning less than a woman, albeit one who is predominantly responsible for setting Strikeforce's viewership record?

My guess is Gina is also receiving additional undisclosed compensation from Strikeforce.  It's nice to see her finally start earning real money for fighting, but at the same time it's still not life-changing money, even though she is a promotion-changing star.

Junkie offers some numerical context:

"Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg" drew an average audience of 576,000 viewers. The UFC replay drew nearly four times that with two million total viewers, Spike TV officials today confirmed with MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).

Strikeforce's Aug. 15 event was one of the biggest shows in the promotion's history and featured the long-awaited Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos vs. Gina Carano title fight. As with other competitors, the UFC and Spike TV ultimately decided to counter-program the broadcast.

Strikeforce's event averaged 576,000 viewers (and peaked with 856,000 for the night's main event at midnight). UFC 100 averaged two million viewers, and it's 1.8 rating (513,000 viewers) was the highest-rated program in the male-18-34 demographic during its timeslot.

From a UFC press release titled "UFC 100 ON SPIKE TV KNOCKS OUT THE COMPETITION ON SATURDAY, AUGUST 15" in my inbox:

Spike TV’s telecast of UFC 100 (originally airing on pay-per-view July 11) drew more Men 18-34 (513,000) than anything else on television on Saturday, August 15.  Airing from 10:00pm-12:30am ET/PT, the telecast drew 2 million viewers, a 1.8 rating in Men 18-34, a 1.7 rating (950,000) in Men 18-49, and a 1.5 household rating.

The telecast bested heavy sports competition during the day in the advertiser-coveted demographic of Men 18-34:

UFC 100 (Spike TV) – 513,000

PGA Championship (CBS) – 479,000

MLB Baseball (FOX) – 242,000

Strikeforce (Showtime) – 181,000

The good news for Strikeforce is that this event did more than double the ratings than their previous show on Showtime (and if my math is right, it's also the highest-rated non-UFC MMA event ever after beating Slice vs. Tank at 522,000 viewers). And given how paltry the media build up was until the last few days prior to the event, there's no way to not consider the numbers here a success.

But it's a Pyrrhic victory of sorts. The better question is: sure the numbers were great, but how much better could they have been? There's no denying that the UFC 100 replay likely took away substantial viewers overall and in more notably key male demos. There's a legitimate debate to be had about whether the UFC is rallying the base with counter programming or if they're actually depriving competitors of would-be viewers, but the sheer volume of MMA television watchers on Saturday evening makes it hard to suggest Strikeforce came out unaffected.

While the Carano vs. Cyborg fight usurped and benefited from media attention, the UFC-Spike TV tandem proved formidable again. The UFC's loyal and active fan base as well as Spike's relatively large exposure demonstrated the enormous numbers that can be pulled with little more than word of mouth and week-long advertisements on the network. Unequivocally, the success of the counter programming practice further cements the idea it can consistently serve as a ratings draw for Spike TV, making the likelihood this practice will continue all but inevitable.

Jake Rossen believes its eminently doable:

It’s an ugly fact of beauty: Carano is pretty, and pretty people often land on their feet.

She’ll be fine. And so will Strikeforce, which finds itself in the curiously attractive position of having one genuine superstar in Carano and one genuine boogeylady in Santos. The depreciation of Carano’s reputation is outmatched by the new appeal of Santos, who may not instill quite the same adolescent appreciation -- boys rarely fantasize of women with necks like tree trunks -- but is staking a reputation as a female terminator. It’s an easy sell: Santos smash.

(Their rematch will be big business -- maybe CBS business. Carano can smile and say that the 10-month layoff affected her, and that this time will be different. And maybe it would be.)

Josh Gross homes in on the "easy sell" Rossen alludes to:

In Strikeforce, Cyborg has a willing promotional partner. And since the UFC declines to promote women based on the declaration that there's not enough depth among female competitors to round out divisions, Coker's group has an opportunity to corner the market on one, albeit niche, area of the sport. Whether fans care enough in the long run is a worthwhile question. To that end, a concerted effort is under way to bolster Strikeforce's female ranks. And highlighting Cyborg's tremendous physicality will be key.

"When I think of Cristiane Cyborg I think of an athlete where you could see her in Shape Magazine," he said. "I could see her in Muscle and Fitness. There's a whole different promotional angle you can take with her. You could say she's one of the fittest women in the world. She's an amazing athlete, and that's how we're going to try and promote her. She's obviously the best female fighter in MMA."

A lot of promotions want to run a Gina-lite campaign. That is, get ahold of the first pretty girl you can find who can throw a decent punch and push her in front of the cameras. But Carano's popularity is driven in part by the early adopter phenomenon, so while the Erin Toughill's and Michelle Waterson's of the world can use their sex appeal, it will be difficult for them to ever achieve the unique prominence Carano enjoys.

And the idea that Cyborg is marketable in a different way is very true. The angle of pushing Cyborg as an indestructible robot works. The truth is a violent, gritty sport like MMA lends itself to the assembly of identity through caricatures, particularly of the "Spartan athlete meets cold-blooded killer" variety. Whether that can launch Cyborg into any level of mainstream stardom is an open question as is the idea that this identity works as well for female fighters as it does males. That said, if you can't have the girl next door as your face and spokesperson it certainly doesn't hurt to have the girl from the other side of town.

Continue reading this post »

Coming out of last night's Strikeforce: Carano vs Cyborg event, we have some new hints about Scott Coker's plans for the rest of the year and his only star, Fedor. From MMA Junkie and Sherdog we know the following about their plans for Fedor:

• He won't be fighting Ricco Rodriguez. Coker denied that that had ever been considered. Likely opponents are Fabricio Werdum and Brett Rogers. 
• Fedor will likely make his Strikeforce debut in November and he won't be fighting in San Jose.
  

Here's more on their event schedule from MMA Junkie:

"We'll have three 'Challengers' fights (this fall)," Coker said. "We'll have September, then we're going to have October, then we're going to have November. Then the big fights are going to be the Fedor fight, and then we'll do one more before the end of the year."

The September show has already been announced, as Tim Kennedy and Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos will headline a "Challengers Series" event in Bixby, Okla. The remaining dates have yet to be finalized, and Coker said both dates and locations are still being determined for the events.

But Coker's tentative plan would call for two shows each in November and December, an idea the Strikeforce exec didn't seem to mind.

Sherdog has more:

• Nick Diaz appears back on track to square off against Jay Hieron for the newly formed welterweight title. Last week, Diaz did not take a pre-fight drug test to ensure his re-licensure in the state before his scheduled bout with Hieron, forcing the promotion to scramble for last-minute opponent Jesse Taylor.

"We had a conversation with Cesar Gracie about the Nick Diaz situation, so I feel very comfortable that Nick will be back shortly," said Coker. "Jay Hieron came here to fight Nick Diaz, so we’ll put that fight together."
...

• With an alliance in place with Dream, Strikeforce could hold an event in Japan before the end of the year, said Coker.

• Coker said the promotion will up its ante to 18-20 events in 2010. At least 16 of those events will be held on Showtime, said Coker, fueling rumors that an option to broadcast events on CBS could be activated by the end of the year.

Big plans from Coker. I have to wonder where they will get enough fighters to fill out all these cards. The downside of the DREAM alliance that no one has mentioned is that it might cost Strikeforce access to the Sengoku fighters like Kazuo Misaki and Jorge Santiago who have fought for Strikeforce before.

From what I can tell, people who attended Strikeforce live loved the main event, while those watching at home saw it as the one-sided beating that it truly was.  I attended the show live myself, and knew within about 30 seconds that Gina would need a miracle to win.  There's something about a fighter's body language after they get hit that says a lot, and I think her body slumped more out of exasperation than exhaustion.

Gina really lost this fight in the clinch, which is where she needed to be successful to win.  In order to beat Cyborg, she had to withstand 2 rounds of hell and take it later.  One of the keys to that was tying her up to avoid a beating, but as soon as she started reverting to headlocks I knew it was a matter of time.  She almost got that miracle when she ended up in full mount, but a split second decision to give that up was a costly error.  She almost certainly would not have won from there, but it was a good opportunity to get a breather and lean on Cyborg a bit, and she passed on it.

From a live atmosphere perspective, few fights I've attended have ever garnered this kind of crowd response.  I've been to a lot of UFC events, and the only thing that was hotter live was Brock-Randy.  Unfortunately, most women's MMA discussions end up focusing on the future of the sport and whether there's anything there besides Gina.  For a round, about 15,000 people were absolutely losing their minds for a fight that featured a woman they wanted to win against a woman they wanted to lose.  In a little over two years, it's a hell of an accomplishment for Gina, who carried the sport to this point.

They've made a great pick with Marlos Coenen for the next title shot, but the big challenge for Strikeforce is creating stars.  Part of making stars is insisting upon it, making women's title matches main events even when they don't feature Gina Carano.  Cyborg has great charisma of her own and is eminently marketable, but Strikeforce showed little sign in the build to this fight that they know how to do it.  

I like the idea of doing tournaments at 145 and 135.  The key thing is to get a number of girls on TV and let them sort themselves out.  Putting Gina in the tournament would be insane, they obviously should not do that, but the tournament format may do more to create stars than Coker can do on his own over the course of a year.

My guess is the fight last night broke the Showtime MMA record, and Cyborg will be able to defend her title in the main event or co-main event of Showtime shows for some time to come.  Gina can main event any Showtime show without a title, and co-main CBS shows as well.  I think people should step back, breathe a bit, and realize that the girls aren't going anywhere, and that Gina's loss won't kill the sport.

-- photo by Esther Lin.

Photos from the amazing Esther Lin/ Strikeforce. Larger sizes in extended entry.

Continue reading this post »