Cris Cyborg wins by TKO

EliteXC had their second CBS show last night at the Stockton Arena in Stockton, CA. We had a womens match to lead off the show with Shayna Baszler facing Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos. Baszler's a veteran with strong grappling skills. Cyborg is married to veteran fighter Evangelista Cyborg and trains at Chute Boxe in Brazil. Her previous fights demonstrated an aggressive standup fighting style but her ground skills were an unknown as she had never really been challenged. So Baszler's strategy was to go to the ground and go for a submission. This is a gamble because if it works, she wins. If it doesn't work, Baszler is in big trouble. Having to do this in a three minute round probably influenced Baszler's decision. Baszler just wasn't able to hook anything on Cyborg and by the end of round one, Cyborg gained control and won the round.











Cyborg went to her strength in round two and started hammering Baszler with strikes. A front knee really put Baszler in trouble. She went down and Cyborg thought the fight was over and she started celebrating. But it wasn't over and Baszler had the opportunity to recover. It didn't help much as Cyborg hammered her until Baszler went down again and the ref called the fight. Cyborg wins by TKO. Baszler said afterwards that the one thing that surprised her was Cyborg's patience in round one. She also showed defensive skills that she hadn't had to show in her previous fights. Obviously she's been working on that and it paid off big in this fight.











The big controversy in this fight is that the women are fighting three minute rounds while the men fight in five minute rounds. The perception is that it puts the submission fighter at a disadvantage to the strike specialist. That may have been a factor in Baszler's first round strategy. The way to end this controversy is for EliteXC to have the women fight five minute rounds. The fighters want it. The fans want it. Even EliteXC broadcasters Mauro Ranallo & Frank Shamrock want it. There's no reason for three minute rounds other than the usual promotional dopiness, typified by Gary Shaw. Well, he's gone and EliteXC Chairman Doug DeLuca and CBS exec Kelly Kahl have demonstrated that they will listen to fans. They got rid of the damn dancers, didn't they? Maybe it's time for some sort of organized petition demanding five minute rounds in womens matches be sent to Kahl.











The next EliteXC show on CBS will be on October 4. EliteXC has already announced that Gina Carano will be on the show. Of course fans want her to lock up with Cris Cyborg. Gina even teased it after the match. It would be interesting because they're both strong Muay Thai fighters. But EliteXC's Jeremy Lappan said last night that Carano vs Cyborg isn't a sure thing and no decision has been made. And Sherdog reported last week that Kelly Kobald (16-2-1) is the leading candidate to be Gina's opponent on that show. And Kelly has confirmed that possibility. I don't care as either matchup has potential to be a good fight. Kelly is a great fighter. I suspect EliteXC may save Cyborg for early in 2009. It will be fun to find out. Here's the match video for your enjoyment. I saw Cyborg's brief post match statement but it had to be translated and was nothing special. But I did find a post match interview with Shayna Baszler courtesy of MMA Rated. Enjoy!