It was a ground breaking night for MMA Saturday night as Gina Carano and Cris “Cyborg” Santos stepped into the cage to determine the inaugural winner of the Strikeforce 145 lbs championship belt. Santos narrowly beat the bell, pounding her way to victory to be crowned the first women’s champion in the history of MMA. Rising star Gegard Mousasi also got in the win column to become the new Strikeforce light heavyweight champion, while Gilbert Milendez held on to his interim lightweight championship and Fabricio Werdum scored a win in the heavyweight division.
The crowd was buzzing with anticipation as the both women entered the cage, and the fight didn’t disappoint. Cyborg came out swinging and seemed to hurt Carano early, but Carano showed great heart and determination by weathering the early storm. Carano gained the mount at one point but couldn’t capitalize and decided to stand the fight back up. This proved to be a mistake as Cyborg’s power just seemed too much to handle. Both fighters landed shots, but it was Santos who was doing the real damage. With a minute remaining Cyborg took the fight to the ground and attempted to finish the fight with a heel hook. Carano managed to free her self but couldn’t stand back up, ending up on her back. From there Cybog postured up and took full advantage of the situation, unleashing on Carano until the referee stopped the fight with a mere second left in the round.
The co-main event was another quick one, only needing a minute to reach a decision between Renato “Babalu” Sobral and Gegard Mousasi. The opening seconds were spent feeling each other out before Mousasi took Babalu to the ground. Mousasi controlled Sobral from side control until the Brazilian managed to escape. However, Mousasi was quick to get back on top and this time he had Sobral up against the cage. He delivered a number of devastating blows, eventually knocking Babalu unconscious. The win made Mousasi the new Strikeforce light heavyweight champion, his second championship after winning the DREAM Middleweight Grand Prix
Gibert Melendez and Mitsuhiro Ishida also squared off in a rematch of their first fight in Japan, a fight that saw Ishida emerge victorious. Melendez seemed to have worked on his takedown defence as the wrestler from Japan could not take him down as he had done on numerous occasions in their first bout. Forced to stand and strike, Melendez’s hand speed seemed too much for Ishida to handle and, in a surprising twist, Melendez scored two take downs himself. Ishida did manage one take down, but couldn’t mount any sort of attack and Melendez stood back up quickly. By the second round Ishida was noticeably fatigued and he continued to take abuse on his feet. In the third round Melendez landed a knee to the body that folded Ishida. From there he gain Ishida’s back and nearly secure a rear naked choke before landing a furry of shots that would force the referee to stop the fight. With the win Melendez assures himself a title shot against Josh Thomson and a chance to avenge the only other loss of his career.
Mike Kyle moved up in weight to take on heavyweight Fabricio Werdum who was left without an opponent after Alistair Overeem was forced to withdraw from their scheduled fight due to injury. Kyle was aggressive from the start, pressing forward and landing several blows. Werdum remained calm and scored the take down, but Kyle wouldn’t let up and nearly secured and arm bar. Werdum escaped and circled around for a guillotine choke before pulling guard and finishing the fight. The win makes Werdum a possible candidate to take on heavyweight superstar Fedor Emelianenko this fall.
