MMA’s Great Debate Radio returns for Thursday’s show with debate about Chael Sonnen and the latest union threats to the UFC, along with guests including World Series of Fighting 4’s Nick Newell and Tyson Griffin, as well as RFA Fighting’s Jeff Curran.
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MMA‘s Great Debate Radio returns for Thursday’s show with debate about ChaelSonnen and the latest union threats to the UFC, along with guests including World Series of Fighting 4’s Nick Newell and Tyson Griffin, as well as RFA Fighting’s Jeff Curran.
Known as one of the most inspirational stories in all of MMA, Nick Newell stops by the show to discuss his new deal with World Series of Fighting and what it means to fight on the biggest stages in MMA.
Former UFC fighter Tyson Griffin also stops by to discuss his fight this weekend against JZCavalcante, as well as his hopes for a career rebirth in World Series of Fighting.
Finally, Jeff Curran drops in to talk about why he dropped out of his last fight, an apology to fans and his upcoming title fight at Resurrection Fighting Alliance.
The debate heats up on today’s show as we discuss the latest union move to block ChaelSonnen from receiving a fight license ahead of his bout at UFC Fight Night 26. Has the union finally gone too far this time?
Also today we will debate the recent news that Ronda Rousey is in talks to join yet another major film franchise, but will this mean she’s headed out of MMA for good?
Other debate topics on today’s show include:
—Unions have filed a complaint in Boston forcing a special session to review ChaelSonnen‘s fight license. Have the unions finally gone too far in this vendetta against Zuffa?
—Ronda Rousey in talks to join Fast and Furious 7‑is she headed the same way that Gina Carano did leaving MMA?
—World Series of Fighting puts on their 4th card this weekend—how would you grade them as an organization thus far on a scale of 1-10?
This is MMA’s Great Debate Radio for Thursday, August 8, 2013
There are points in MMA history that if one punch is ducked, one kick is thrown, one submission is secured, the entire fate of the sport changes.
Numerous fights hold the distinction of being important enough that history hung in the balance while the combatants tried to incapacitate one another, but one that doesn’t get much attention in the discussion of Griffin/Bonnar-level important fights is Gina Carano vs. Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos (or now Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino. Whatever, we’re just gonna call her Cyborg). Yeah, most people recognize its importance as the first BIG fight in WMMA history, but their appreciation for it doesn’t extend past that. And, historically, it shouldn’t. The fight was a big deal but it lead to nothing good. It sent the most recognized fighter in WMMA away from the sport forever. Ronda Rousey, Miesha Tate, and others had to pick up the mantle that Gina Carano ran away from.
But, for a moment, let us pretend that the result of Carano vs. Cyborg was reversed. That’s what the second installment of CagePotato’s Alternate History series is based on: The fallout of Gina Carano hypothetically defeating Cyborg in Strikeforce.
What Would’ve Happened if Gina Carano Defeated Cyborg in 2009?
Before we get into counterfactuals, let’s briefly discuss what happened historically.
EliteXC (gee it fields weird to type that name again) had a burgeoning women’s division, no doubt to say “Hey, we have something the UFC doesn’t” and to draw attention away from the fact that their male roster wasn’t as loaded as the UFC’s. Not an issue though, because the women were awesome. Two specific ones were more awesome than most: Carano and Cyborg.
Carano was the most marketable female fighter at the time because she’s fucking gorgeous — and not just “fighter” hot, but seriouslyattractive. She could fight pretty damn well, too. Pushing Carano was therefore a no-brainer.
Cyborg isn’t conventionally attractive but she’s gifted at inflicting violence. Legitimate talent combined with an affinity for smashing fighters in a crowd-pleasing way is easy to promote.
There are points in MMA history that if one punch is ducked, one kick is thrown, one submission is secured, the entire fate of the sport changes.
Numerous fights hold the distinction of being important enough that history hung in the balance while the combatants tried to incapacitate one another, but one that doesn’t get much attention in the discussion of Griffin/Bonnar-level important fights is Gina Carano vs. Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos (or now Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino. Whatever, we’re just gonna call her Cyborg). Yeah, most people recognize its importance as the first BIG fight in WMMA history, but their appreciation for it doesn’t extend past that. And, historically, it shouldn’t. The fight was a big deal but it lead to nothing good. It sent the most recognized fighter in WMMA away from the sport forever. Ronda Rousey, Miesha Tate, and others had to pick up the mantle that Gina Carano ran away from.
But, for a moment, let us pretend that the result of Carano vs. Cyborg was reversed. That’s what the second installment of CagePotato’s Alternate History series is based on: The fallout of Gina Carano hypothetically defeating Cyborg in Strikeforce.
What Would’ve Happened if Gina Carano Defeated Cyborg in 2009?
Before we get into counterfactuals, let’s briefly discuss what happened historically.
EliteXC (gee it fields weird to type that name again) had a burgeoning women’s division, no doubt to say “Hey, we have something the UFC doesn’t” and to draw attention away from the fact that their male roster wasn’t as loaded as the UFC’s. Not an issue though, because the women were awesome. Two specific ones were more awesome than most: Carano and Cyborg.
Carano was the most marketable female fighter at the time because she’s fucking gorgeous — and not just “fighter” hot, but seriouslyattractive. She could fight pretty damn well, too. Pushing Carano was therefore a no-brainer.
Cyborg isn’t conventionally attractive but she’s gifted at inflicting violence. Legitimate talent combined with an affinity for smashing fighters in a crowd-pleasing way is easy to promote.
Carano easily plowed through her competition while in EliteXC while Cyborg did the same. But the two never got to meet under the EliteXC banner. An off-balance jab from Seth Petruzelli straight to Kimbo Slice’s bearded chin sealed EliteXC’s fate (and, thankfully, sent the intolerable douchebag $kala back to obscurity).
After EliteXC’s demise, Strikeforce championed women’s MMA. They had Carano vs. Cyborg main event a show (the first time two women headlined a major MMA event) in August 2009. The fight wasn’t competitive. Cyborg was Gallagher and Carano was a hapless, helpless watermelon. Carano left the sport for Hollywood, never to return. Cyborg body-slammed Tito Ortiz, pissed hot for steroids, and beat up some fighters that she was way better than — a disappointing aftermath for one of the biggest fights in WMMA history.
But what if the fighter’s fortunes were reversed?
For argument’s sake, we’ll say that Carano didn’t botch the knee-bar she rolled for in the first round and managed to tap out Cyborg. What would’ve happened then?
Gina Carano (and a bunch of women for her to beat up) get brought into the UFC as soon as possible — and it ends badly.
Dana White is all about the money. He once swore that we’d NEVER see women in the UFC. But, here we are a couple years later with women in the UFC. What changed?
Ronda Rousey. The UFC realized they could hire a sexy, talented, silver-tongued woman and promote the shit out of her so that Dana White can buy more Ferraris while saying that the UFC pay scale is fine. White himself is open about this fact (well, the part about Rousey, anyway). He said so in an interview with Zuffa minister of propaganda journalist Ariel Helwani back in December:
“I’m putting my toe in the water, and I’m checking it out. There’s no doubt, for people who say, ‘Oh, this is the Ronda Rousey show,’ fuck right it is. You’re absolutely right. I’m not trying to shy away from that and say, ‘Oh no, we’re getting into women’s MMA.’ This is the Ronda Rousey Show.”
In this alternate timeline, Zuffa decides to bring the “Gina Carano Show” to the UFC as soon as possible after she beats Cyborg. Now, this is where it gets a little murky. Contractually speaking, it’s difficult to determine when the UFC could’ve poached the women away from Strikeforce. When Cyborg signed on with Strikeforce, she had a four-fight deal. After the Carano fight, Cyborg had two fights left. Finding Carano’s contract details has proved more difficult. All I can find is that she re-negotiated a new contract with Strikeforce after they purchased EliteXC’s assets. I’m no lawyer, so I’m not going to pretend to understand contractual intricacies. So, for the sake of this counterfactual, let’s pretend that the UFC lures Carano, Cyborg, and other prominent female fighters into the Octagon sometime after Carano-Cyborg but BEFORE Strikeforce can make the much-anticipated rematch.
What happens then and why does it end badly?
The UFC women’s division, in this alternate history, serves the same purpose that the current women’s division does: To act as a feeder system to the star at the top. In this alternate timeline, the star at the top is Gina Carano. Zuffa has Carano crush cans and has Cyborg do the same in order to build to an all-important rematch between the two. Maybe they even put them as coaches on a TUF season.
In the rematch, if Cyborg beats Carano, Carano takes her ball and goes to Hollywood like she did historically.
If Carano beats Cyborg in the rematch, the supply of money that can be made from the only feud in WMMA that people cared about is exhausted. Carano, sensing greener pastures and more money without having to damage her looks, leaves for Hollywood anyway. Once the cash cow at the top is gone, the feeder system no longer serves a purpose. Uncle Dana and Co. disband the women’s division (there’s a historical precedent for this; they disbanded the lightweight division in 2003).
“Never fucking again,” Dana White will tell reporters. Ronda Rousey’s emergence in 2011 isn’t even a blip on Zuffa’s radar screen. Why would it be? They tried their WMMA experiment and it failed. WMMA’s one chance in the UFC was blown.
(Regardless of which direction Carano chooses to take this character, SUCCESS.)
I know, I know, but just shut your mouths and listen for a second.
On the heels of a memorable role in the highly successful Fast and Furiousix and with two other projects currently in development, the newly single Gina Carano is less a budding star and more the next, Angelina Jolie, I guess? For the life of me, I cannot think of one actress I would consider an action star……..(*snap*) Sigourney Weaver! Gina Carano is the next Sigourney Weaver.
Aaaaanyway, according to the Hollywood Reporter, Carano will now be looking to add the title of “superhero” to her ever-growing film resume in the near future. The former MMA star is teaming up with comic book writer Rob Liefeld to bring his Avengelynecharacter to life on the silver screen, so they report:
Carano and Liefeld will be at Comic-Con on Saturday to meet with fans and sign posters that feature Carano as the character.
Carano and Liefeld are reconceiving and rebuilding the title into a starring vehicle for Carano, and the movie project is intended to be in the vein of Underworld, the popular vampire-vs.-werewolves franchise starring Kate Beckinsale.
A search for a writer or a writer-director to adapt Avengelyne will begin next week.
(Regardless of which direction Carano chooses to take this character, SUCCESS.)
I know, I know, but just shut your mouths and listen for a second.
On the heels of a memorable role in the highly successful Fast and Furiousix and with two other projects currently in development, the newly single Gina Carano is less a budding star and more the next, Angelina Jolie, I guess? For the life of me, I cannot think of one actress I would consider an action star……..(*snap*) Sigourney Weaver! Gina Carano is the next Sigourney Weaver.
Aaaaanyway, according to the Hollywood Reporter, Carano will now be looking to add the title of “superhero” to her ever-growing film resume in the near future. The former MMA star is teaming up with comic book writer Rob Liefeld to bring his Avengelynecharacter to life on the silver screen, so they report:
Carano and Liefeld will be at Comic-Con on Saturday to meet with fans and sign posters that feature Carano as the character.
Carano and Liefeld are reconceiving and rebuilding the title into a starring vehicle for Carano, and the movie project is intended to be in the vein of Underworld, the popular vampire-vs.-werewolves franchise starring Kate Beckinsale.
A search for a writer or a writer-director to adapt Avengelyne will begin next week.
Kate Beckinsale may be the “sexier” of the two choices, but I am sticking with my Weaver/Carano comparison. Maybe it’s because I’m stubborn, maybe it’s because “Get away from her, you BITCH!” is something I’ve heard every single time I have been within eyesight of Gina Carano.
As I hope is true for most of you, I have never heard of Avengelyne because I moved on to books like a goddamn adult some years ago (*brushes crumb off ascot, turns to see if anyone else at Starbucks is reading this lyrical poetry*). That being the case, this might be the first comic book I have ever been excited to see turned into a blatant cash grab franchise. I mean, just LOOK at that outfit.
Thinly veiled attempt to sequitur into lip-biting gif and…
Kickboxer turned mixed martial artist turned actress Gina Carano has another movie deal lined up. After starring in the 2012 action flick Haywire and making a bit appearance in Fast & Furious 6, Carano will now be playing 1…
Kickboxer turned mixed martial artist turned actress Gina Carano has another movie deal lined up. After starring in the 2012 action flick Haywire and making a bit appearance in Fast & Furious 6, Carano will now be playing 1990s comic book relic Avengelyne, the namesake from the oft-resurrected series created by Rob Liefeld.
Carano is a name very familiar to fight fans. Incredibly attractive and owning legitimate striking skills, she was the unquestioned face of women’s MMA from 2006 through 2010. She pioneered new ground in the sport, appearing on the cover of the 2009 ESPN The Magazine’s Body Issue, headlining the first ever major MMA card with women given top billing and establishing women as a viable draw in the sport.
She owned a 7-1 MMA record, her final fight being a harsh knockout loss to Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos (now Cristiane Justino, after divorcing her husband, Evangelista Santos). Afterward, Carano more or less hung her gloves up and achieved moderate success as an actress, but is still best remembered for her setting the foundation for fighters like Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate.
While Carano is, for the most part, remembered favorably by MMA fans,Avengelyneis widely panned by comic book aficionados. Created in 1995 by Rob Liefeld, an artist who is largely blackballed in the comic industry these days,Avengelyneis remembered as a generic story that served as a flimsy stage for a scantily-clad heroine.
A fallen angel banished to an Earth overrun by demons, Avengelyne is tasked by God to protect “The One,” who will fix all the world’s ills. However, she must do this while wearing essentially no clothing to obscure her disgusting, genuinely inhuman proportions.
The story willreportedlybe retooled by Liefield and Carano, and the movie will be produced by Scott Karp and Brooklyn Weaver.
(You see, Henry? This is why you never date a triple threat, especially when that third threat is “Ability to strangle a man to death with bare hands.”)
Dependent on whether you’re just a single dude with incredibly unrealistic expectations or a gossip whore with an incredibly loose grasp on reality, you will probably take the news that Gina Carano is once again single as either a gift from the Gods or a travesty on par with the time K-Stew and R-Pats broke up. In any case, US Weekly is reporting that the power couple of Carano and not Christopher Reeves are donzo.
This is normally where we’d block quote something from the actual article, but are you fucking kidding me? THIS IS SINGLE AGAIN, YOU GUYS. Let’s celebrate with photos and gifs after the jump.
(You see, Henry? This is why you never date a triple threat, especially when that third threat is “Ability to strangle a man to death with bare hands.”)
Dependent on whether you’re just a single dude with incredibly unrealistic expectations or a gossip whore with an incredibly loose grasp on reality, you will probably take the news that Gina Carano is once again single as either a gift from the Gods or a travesty on par with the time K-Stew and R-Pats broke up. In any case, US Weekly is reporting that the power couple of Carano and not Christopher Reeves are donzo.
This is normally where we’d block quote something from the actual article, but are you fucking kidding me? THIS IS SINGLE AGAIN, YOU GUYS. Let’s celebrate with photos and gifs.
Ever since leaving the MMA world behind to pursue a film career, Carano has been quickly building a reputation as one of Hollywood’s toughest and sexiest leading ladies. With Fast 6 Furiousixalready in the books and another movie (In the Blood) currently in the post-production, it’s safe to say that Gina has found a home on the silver screen. Honestly, we couldn’t be happier for her. We couldn’t…be…happier…
WHY, HOLLYWOOD? WHY MUST YOU TAKE ALL OUR NICE THINGS?!
Ever since Al Gore invented the internet, print media has slowly walked The Green Mile towards obscurity. Major publications have gone belly up and my kids will probably miss out on cracking open the Sports page while drinking a nice cup of coffee in the morning because newspapers are fading quick. Many magazines have had to resort to gimmicky publicity stunts to keep their heads above water, sling a few more issues, and make payroll for the next month. Whether it is the first photo of some garbage-ass (yeah, I’m bringing it back) reality star’s child or coaxing a pseudo-celebrity with a possible substance abuse problem to get naked, print publications are truly scraping the bottom of the barrel. [Ed. note:Good thing we’re above stuff like that.]
Potentially proving this point is the picture above which surfaced on The UG yesterday showing a photo-shoot of everyone’s favorite transgender MMA fighter Fallon Fox with the caption:
GQ Magazine photoshoot today with a true Pioneer of Women’s Mixed Martial Arts.. Fallon Fox – Future UFC and Invicta FC Champion
Look for huge spread feature story in GQ Mag, October 2013!! Jen Wenk comes on board now Nike backing, GQ magazine.
Ever since Al Gore invented the internet, print media has slowly walked The Green Mile towards obscurity. Major publications have gone belly up and my kids will probably miss out on cracking open the Sports page while drinking a nice cup of coffee in the morning because newspapers are fading quick. Many magazines have had to resort to gimmicky publicity stunts to keep their heads above water, sling a few more issues, and make payroll for the next month. Whether it is the first photo of some garbage-ass (yeah, I’m bringing it back) reality star’s child or coaxing a pseudo-celebrity with a possible substance abuse problem to get naked, print publications are truly scraping the bottom of the barrel. [Ed. note:Good thing we’re above stuff like that.]
Potentially proving this point is the picture above which surfaced on The UG yesterday showing a photo-shoot of everyone’s favorite transgender MMA fighter Fallon Fox with the caption:
GQ Magazine photoshoot today with a true Pioneer of Women’s Mixed Martial Arts.. Fallon Fox – Future UFC and Invicta FC Champion
Look for huge spread feature story in GQ Mag, October 2013!! Jen Wenk comes on board now Nike backing, GQ magazine.
Do not let that creepy-ass crying baby fool you. I am not a bigot, or a racist or a sexist or an extremist and I think the left as well as the right wing political factions are both blinded by their own arrogance. I just HATE people in general. White, black, brown, yellow, purple, bi, gay, straight, democrat, republican, gentile or Jew [Ed. note: You forgot greasers] — I am an equal opportunity hater of all things that are idiotic regardless of race, sexual orientation, political affiliation, or creed. I HATE all of you (except ALF – donate, you deadbeats). That being said, IF the alleged photo is indeed for GQ, the caption that accompanies that picture is the stupidest thing I have ever read. So, excuse me while I write this out and I guess I’ll start at the beginning.
For starters, there is zero evidence (other than the pic and caption) of a GQ feature story and photo spread of Fallon Fox set to appear in a future issue. Most of the time when photos are leaked for an upcoming/anticipated magazine issue, they may surface initially on an underground forum post (like the aforementioned) but they don’t stay there for long before big name media outlets (like CagePotato.com) poach the story. Secondly, the backdrop and the overall photo quality appear to be fairly inexpensive, if not damn cheap for a publication of GQ’s notoriety. Seriously, is that a high school drama club stage? Strike 1.
Finally, when it comes to former UFC PR Director Jen Wenk’s involvement in this ordeal, I have very little to stand on. The only thing I can say is she left the UFC to start her own PR agency and the last I heard, she was affiliated with the Blackzilians but I’m too tired to do any more research at this semi-lucid moment. Now, IF Nike is on board, my Spider senses are telling me that Fox’s involvement in this could be a possible publicity grab for the company’s new #BeTrue line which is in support of the Lesbian and Gay community. (See here for more photo evidence.) The apparel giant recently brought on NBA player Jason Collins, who recently came out to promote the #BeTrue fashion line, and Nike could also be trying to capitalize on the unique story of Fox. Regardless, there is just too much speculation to grant any of this as gospel. Strike 3.
Kickboxer turned mixed martial artist turned actress 
