Showtime's MMA company EliteXC debuted last night. Of course most fans are talking about the unsatisfactory finish to the main event between Frank Shamrock & Renzo Gracie. But womens MMA took a big step last night with a match appearing on live TV in North America for the first time. It was on Showtime in the US and The Fight Network in Canada. And many fans praised it as the match of the night. Here's my take.
The match was between Gina Carano & Julie Kedzie. Carano was 3-0 and made a big splash on December's Strike Force show and this was a very big opportunity for her. Kedzie was 6-4 and the Bloomington, IN native is a Hook 'N' Shoot veteran. Both are trained in Muay Thai and are adept strikers. It was a pretty good match won easily by Carano by unanimous decision. She landed some very hard shots but couldn't put Kedzie away. And though Carano faded a bit in the third round, she had enough of a lead to hold on. Carano was fortunate that Kedzie isn't much better on the ground than her. It looked like neither of them knew what to do on the ground. Kedzie was a good opponent to showcase Carano. So the fight did succeed in showcasing women as fighters. But if Carano is moving up to fight more formidable opponents, she's really going to have to work on her ground game. I can think of several fighters that would be willing to take a couple of shots to get her on the ground. She wouldn't last long. The fight was a very positive experience and the promoter deserves a lot of credit for putting women on the show. Here's Gina Carano's post match interview courtesy of Sherdog.
Gina Carano post match interview
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