By: Mike Coughlin
MichaelCoughlin@f4wonline.com
“How do you feel when something beautiful is ruined?”
People want to have *** with Gina Carano. I know this isn't a big secret, but that's the key to her success. She has that All-American, Girl-Next-Door charm about her and it draws people in. She looks at the camera, sheepishly bites her lip, gives a little wink, and “obliviously” plays along. I don't begrudge her for this; it's a reality of the female athlete (and the world in general): *** sells. From Danica Patrick to Anna Kournikova, women athletes are held to different standards than men and the pretty girls get ahead. Saturday night, the reason Gina is in the main-event - heck, the reason there's a female title fight in the main-event at all - is because she's attractive. But, “It'd be a terrible shame if something happened to her face,” says the evil Brazilian foil.
I don't mean to denigrate Carano's legitimate skills. Gina really did amass a 12-1-1 record in Muay Thai, traveling to Thailand and beating the Thais are their own game. However much one downplays the quality of competition available at Carano's weight class, she was in there, throwing punches, receiving strikes, and truly competing in a brutal sport. And she did all this when there really wasn't any reason to think she could make huge sums of money and gain worldwide fame. She has since garnered a 7-0 record in MMA. She's been protected so far in her career (her last four opponents were coming off losses prior to fighting Carano; one opponent had never fought MMA before; and another had only one fight when fighting Gina), but she's put on entertaining, show-stealing performances, and most importantly, she's simply won.
Unspoken in all this is that Carano hasn't taken real damage in her fights. That might change on Saturday. Cristiane Santos is scary. When your husband is a Muay Thai wrecking machine - a man that has stood toe-to-toe with Melvin Manhoef, Shogun Rua, Gegard Mousasi and many others - and people think you're the one wearing the pants in the family, you know you're scary. People don't even bother calling her by anything other than Cris Cyborg. When your de facto surname is Cyborg, you know you're scary. When ringside observers watch your last fight and cry foul about how brutal the beating your opponent took was, you know you're scary. Mrs. Cyborg is an ugly, mean, savage of a woman. She looks the way you'd expect a female cage fighter to look; she is everything Gina is not. Riding a seven-fight win-streak, with five stoppages (all due to strikes), Mrs. Cyborg is a true fighter, a legitimate test, and anything but a cakewalk. She is someone that can not only beat Gina, but could actually hurt the darling of women's MMA. And that's when things change.
Thus far, people have enjoyed the beautiful Gina Carano beating people up. She doesn't get hit back - not really - and when it's all said and done she gets to give that smile and wink to the camera, letting everyone know she's physically OK. It's a fantasy played out in real life: pretty girl fights, pretty girl wins, pretty girl stays pretty. But what happens if Gina gets beaten up? How do viewers react if they see the girl next door look like a domestic abuse victim? I don't mean to make light of domestic abuse, more to highlight the visceral reaction people might have to seeing an attractive woman's face bloodied, cut, and swollen. Watching Rich Franklin talk as his nose, just shattered by a knee, is bent like the advanced course on a ski slope can be off putting, but what if that's Carano's face? If blood runs down her face from a cut, like red tears, are people still going to enjoy her fights? If her eyes are closed shut to the point where a doctor determines she can no longer see, is it still fun to watch? Because all of that is a very, very real possibility.
I have enjoyed female MMA for a time now. Be it Megumi Fujii, Tara LaRosa, Gina Carano, or Mrs. Cyborg, the fights tend to be real fights. The contests aren't just mud-wrestling for a new generation; these are legitimate athletes, who have real skills, engaging in a sport. The women can be faster, more flexible, and sometimes even display more tenacity than their male counterparts. The bouts aren't just entertaining novelties, but rather interesting shows of technique and heart - just like the men. Carano v. Cyborg represent the highest profile women's MMA has taken in the United States, and maybe the world. It has been a relatively well-built feud, it features the “beauty and the best” storyline, the fighters have had mostly entertaining fights in their career, it's basically the perfect storm for catapulting women fighting from niche to mainstay. Female MMA is here to stay and, like I said, I've enjoyed it. I just don't know if I'm going to enjoy it on Saturday.