Gina Carano isn't going to ride in and save the day, it's time for Showtime and Strikeforce to come to terms with that.
After Cristiane Santos tested positive for steroids following her last fight, Dana White went on ESPN Radio and suggested that the women's 145 pound division may be done. Strikeforce's Scott Coker isn't quite on the same page and seems set on trying to keep the division around.
"I don't think it's time to throw [the division] out to the garbage. I still think we have some great fighters at 145 and a lot of girls that maybe haven't been around for a while ... I believe they're going to be motivated to come back because Cyborg won't be there," Coker told the media at the Strikeforce postfight press conference.
...
"I think Gina Carano is definitely somebody who'd like to fight again, but she's got a big movie guys. I'm not sure if you seen the commercials, it's everywhere," Coker said. "And Steven Soderbergh is gonna be behind her. When that happens, great things are going to happen for her. She might get another picture deal."
There are a few takeaways here.
First, there has to stop being a reliance on Gina coming back. Scott brings her up here, Showtime Sports president Stephen Espinoza brought up her return on the media call to announce the new deal, she just keeps being brought up. It's already been two and a half years since she last fought and given the positive things reviewers are saying about her performance in Haywire? It's unlikely she does come back. And even if she did, it's hard to see it as more of a special event than a long-term return. Is that a reason to keep an entire division around? Just have a one-off fight at whatever weight she wants in that situation.
Second, how does this make your current crop of 145'ers look good? Coker is essentially saying that there are all these women who weren't around but now will want to come back because Cyborg is gone. They were afraid of her? But now that things are easier they'll come back? Oh, well I totally want to see them, they sound fantastic.
I'm still pretty firmly behind blowing up 145 and trying to make one solid division with good depth. That doesn't even require cutting down on the number of female fights, just hopefully building to more fights that people actually want to see.
0 recs | 32 comments
I get the C-4
MattParker117 - January 8, 2012
Who is this Coker character
and what does Dana have to say about it?
TheFilt - January 8, 2012
Dana is as psyched to keep the 145 division as Gil and Luke are to stay in Strikeforce.
( . Y . ) - January 8, 2012
lol at Coker banking on Carano
discoandherpes - January 8, 2012
My dad's coming home any day now, too
He went out for cigarettes in 1993.
TheFilt - January 8, 2012
I know it's weird to give my social security number to someone else
But he is totally a Nigerian Prince.
discoandherpes - January 8, 2012
My free ipad
is on its way as soon as I finish filling in this survey.
GreyedOut - January 8, 2012
you won’t believe how massive my cock is gonna be when i get those pills i shelled out a cool thousand for…
Victor Rodriguez - January 8, 2012
She's too good-looking to get punched in the face for a living
rockyman500 - January 8, 2012
To be fair
it’s mostly reporters and fans that have brought her up, and people like Espinoza and Coker are compelled to offer some answer.
Rainer Lee - January 8, 2012
Yeah, Coker has never been very good with the words. Proven once again here. It’s pretty silly that they keep pretending that she’ll be back.. maybe she will have like one fight sometime in the future, maybe not, but there’s really no need speculating about it. Unless this new movie career of her totally goes to shit, there’s really no reason for her to go back to Strikeforce.
Horselover Fat - January 8, 2012
It seems that Coker is actually leaning more towards her not coming back at all. He says she might want to fight again because he doesn’t want to totally close the door on her or whatever, but given what he says about her getting another picture deal, I think he’s basically telling everyone to stop holding their breath.
Rainer Lee - January 8, 2012
He should put his foot down, Dana style, just tell them “Look, maybe she’ll be back, maybe she won’t. We don’t fucking know. Okay? Good.”
Horselover Fat - January 8, 2012
I certainly wouldn’t mind that.
Rainer Lee - January 8, 2012
Since they are releasing Haywire in January, the traditional month for dumping terrible movies on the public, I’m guessing her film career will not be taking off anytime soon.
toxic - January 8, 2012
A lot of the reliable reviews so far have indicated that it’s actually decent and that her performance is great.
Brent Brookhouse - January 8, 2012
Yes the 145 division lacks depth, there is no arguement in that. To just scrap the division is idiocy, cause you are therfore creating a repetitive cycle upon which there will always be a lack of depth. Through creating greater opportunities for promotion and more fights the depth shall develop.
BTW Brent i do appreciate your opinion, but how come you are writing about wmma when your disdain and vitrol for wmma has been made clear? Would’nt your time be best served on an article that is not about a division, that if i am not mistaken you would rather see non-existent. Not trying to pick a bone, just curious. Maybe it is due to other writers being unavailable to post such an article.
pRoXiMo - January 8, 2012
News is news and I do have to cover WMMA. So there was WMMA news and I covered it.
I don’t think anything I wrote was particularly harsh toward WMMA, in fact my main point here is to do things that make it better (like get everyone in one division)
Brent Brookhouse - January 8, 2012
Thank you for your response, I appreciate it. Furthermore i did not see anything very harsh within this particular article, i was just curious to the approach you are taking when covering wmma. Consolidating the 135 and 145 division for the short-term seems like a very easy solution to create depth, but for the longevity of wmma is counter-productive. Focusing on the 115, 125, and 135 divisions in the first place is going to truly develop wmma. As 145 is akin to the men’s heavyweights nonetheless, which has always lacked depth. Could you imagine the UFC scrapping the HW division when Barnett Failed his steroid test? When clearly at that time they lacked any sort of real depth.
pRoXiMo - January 8, 2012
This could be fixed by Yamanka and Rousey fighting for the title.
TheLastEmpress - January 8, 2012
Not to state the obvious, but Ronda is going down to 135 in an attempt to relieve Meisha Tate of her belt and one of her arms. I think Ronda also realizes there’s more interesting fights for her at bantamweight.
ihateemo - January 8, 2012 via mobile
Yeah, but I can dream, can’t I? OR ARE YOU TAKING THAT AWAY FROM ME TOO?
TheLastEmpress - January 8, 2012
One division for women is silly
They’d be better off picking up the 125 pound division, which is probably the thickest on the female side, and merging the 135 and 145 divisions into a 140 division. They’d have two divisions thicker than what they have in either right now.
The Midge - January 8, 2012
Yeah, no idea why 125 is getting no love.
ihateemo - January 8, 2012 via mobile
I was thinking of adding a lighter Womens weight division as well, but I just don’t think that they want to hire more female fighters and dedicate to making another Womens division. Making a 140 lb division works, and the only two women that I can think of at 145 that aren’t suspended or making movies are Germaine de Randamie and Julia Budd.
chrisbboy82 - January 9, 2012
C'mon
No woman should be blamed for not wanting to fight a man.
Scott Whitaker - January 8, 2012
W145 pretty much needs Gina for it to stay viable right now
If 145 is to survive without Cyborg or without completely exhausting the remaining global pool of good W145 fighters and doing an 8-woman tournament (with 4-women in reserve bouts), then they need Gina Carano, and for more than one match.
Give Gina a beatable opponent for her first match back, and if Ronda Rousey beats Miesha Tate for the title, then make that a title match. Meanwhile what very little true talent there is at that division needs to be signed and built up a bit. People like Yana Kunitskaya, Cindy Dandois, and Edienne Gomes. Strikeforce can’t simply be bringing in girls from outside again to immediately get a title shot since if they lose badly it reflects badly on all of WMMA since it’s the first impression most people get of that person. That should never be allowed to happen under Zuffa ever again. No more people coming from outside Zuffa getting immediate title shots inside Zuffa no matter how shallow the division. Never.
Chromium - January 8, 2012
A lot of fighters at 145?
Facts: the two biggest fighters at 145 are Gina and Cyborg. Cyborg just popped for ‘roids, and Gina hasn’t fought in over TWO years after being CRUSHED by Cyborg. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll watch Cyborg pound on blown-up 132 pound Japanese women, but the division is done.
-Neil- - January 8, 2012
I’ll tune in to see Cyborg fight a 145er… she hasn’t fought one since Gina.
exsanguinator - January 9, 2012
MegaMEgaMEGU
is no #1 womens pound for pound
MegaReem - January 9, 2012
The fact that Coker can only mention Carano when he says “a lot of good fighters” really shows how bad this division is. Time to wrap it up and stop the gong shows! I don’t like WMMA at all, but even I can appreciate some of the fights going on at 135. That’s the one division to concentrate on.
Shnak - January 9, 2012
I want to know what they’re paying Coker to keep him around saying totally nonsensical things like that.
Heck, I STILL don’t know what Showtime saw in the SF deal to make them want to keep it around in bulimic zombie mode.
squaresphere - January 9, 2012
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