Pound For Pound: Carano vs. Cyborg

The way she tells it, Gina Carano’s mixed martial arts career began over a 40 oz. bottle of Old English 800. 

At least that’s the story MMA’s most popular female fighter offered up on Tuesday during a press conference and public workout at Madison Square Garden to officially  begin the countdown for her Aug. 15 bout against Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos – a fight to decide the sport’s first ever major female championship. 

“We were sitting there one night drinking 40s,” Carano said, in response to how she got her start in combat sports. “(My ex-boyfriend) was talking to his dad and said he always had a passion for mixed martial arts ... His dad said, ‘You’re not going to be able to do it drinking that.’ So he looked at the 40 – a full 40 – and he just set it down and didn’t touch another drink for a year. He started training and now he’s one of the better technicians in Thai boxing … When I walked in to see him train (for the first time), a Thai master called me fat and I signed up for lessons.”

The revelations about Carano’s fighting origins provided one of the few candid moments during the public event designed more around giving fans an opportunity to get a look at the sport’s biggest (and only?) heartthrob than disseminating any real information about what will undoubtedly be the toughest in-ring test of her career. 

Carano, Santos and the brand new Strikeforce title belt they’ll fight over appeared in front of media and fans for around 45 minutes inside MSG’s WaMu Theater before the fighters each took part in short, outdoor workout sessions in a cage erected on the corner of 33^rd St. and 8^th. Ave. in Midtown Manhattan. 

It was New York City’s second high-profile MMA event in three days after a viewing party for UFC 100 at Radio City Music Hall on Saturday night. MMA is still illegal in New York, pending further action by the state legislature.

Carano’s and Santos’ bout will represent a number of firsts for female MMA: The first time a woman has been awarded a nationally recognized title belt, the first time a female fight has headlined a major card where male fighters will also appear and the first high-profile woman’s bout contested over five 5-minute rounds instead of three 3-minute periods. 

Both the organization and the competitors were quick to trumpet all those points at Tuesday’s presser. 

“It takes a lot of balls to put something like this on, to be quite frank,” Carano said of the fight’s promoters. “To put us up there and put us in the main event. I know we won’t be letting you guys down.” 

If the woman that Strikeforce calls MMA’s “starlet” caught the irony in her own words, she didn’t show it. 

While marching to an undefeated professional record, Carano has been known as much as a sex symbol as a fighter, appearing in Maxim Magazine and on NBC’s short-lived “American Gladiators” revival. To say that she and the also unbeaten Santos – who is regarded as the most intimidating physical specimen in women’s MMA and is known for her vicious stand-up and ground-and-pound attacks – cut dissimilar figures while on stage together would be a severe understatement. 

Though Carano was clearly the main attraction, she tried to shrug off the repeated references to her good looks. 

“When it comes down to it, it’s a fight,” Carano said. “You don’t leave the fight thinking, ‘Oh, how beautiful that person was.’ Usually you think, ‘Oh my gosh, that person has skills,’ or ‘That person got jacked.’ So thank you for your compliments, but that’s definitely not going to help anybody out in the cage.” 

Speaking through an interpreter, Santos said she knows some fans might see a fight between her and Carano as “beauty and the beast,” but added that looks won’t matter once the opening bell rings. 

Even the workouts were different, with Santos working both grappling and striking, treating fans to some hard slams of her husband and training partner Evangelista Santos. Carano, meanwhile, kept the boxing gloves on, choosing to work only the Thai pads during her time in front of the crowd outside the Garden.

Both fighters were courteous and friendly during the event, though Santos avoided making eye contact when Carano sought it out as they came to the stage. 

“The first time I saw her fight live, I was overwhelmed by the intensity of her style and the way she performed,” Carano said. “I knew that she would definitely be somebody that could be one of the best in the world and I want to fight the best.” 

Carano and Santos fight August 15 in San Jose. The bout, which headlines a Strikeforce card featuring three other title fights, can be seen live on Showtime.

Chad Dundas writes a weekly mixed martial arts column for Crave Online. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.