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UFC President Dana White has softened his stance significantly in the last two weeks about promoting a possible showdown between former Elite XC female superstar Gina “Conviction” Carano (7-0) and Brazilian rival Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos (6-1).

Just don’t expect it to take place in the hallowed Octagon. If it were to happen under his watch, White says, it would more than likely take place under the Zuffa-owned World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) banner.

Here’s what he said just yesterday on ESPN’s “MMA Live:”

“I wouldn’t be opposed to it. And if I did do it, it would probably be in the WEC.”

That’s clearly not an all-out guarantee. However, it is marked change in tone from just two weeks ago. Here’s what he had to say then:

“Gina Carano’s a talented fighter, she’s a star. She should’ve been the main event (on CBS’ last EliteXC broadcast). My thing with women and fighting is there isn’t enough good women to create a whole division. Could I do some one-off fights here and there? Yeah, but that’s not really what we do.”

It’s an intriguing development to say the least. Perhaps White — who has historically gone on record saying he does not personally like to see women beat each other up — is having a change of heart because the match up between Carano and Cyborg is more than likely a huge money maker.

In fact, the WEC has designs on making its pay-per-view (PPV) debut sometime in 2009. And what better way to increase interest (and PPV buys) than putting a fight together than fans are eager to see, were told they were going to see, and then had it disappear before their very eyes when Elite XC closed its doors.

Remember, too, the Carano is very close with UFC Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture and his wife Kim, training full-time at the X-Treme Couture facility in Las Vegas, Nevada.

There is also that ugly issue with Affliction’s Todd Beard and the Couture’s, suggesting that a fight between Carano and Cyborg would now be highly unlikely under the Affliction MMA brand because of the tensions between the parties.

Therefore, White more than likely has the upper hand, as well as the financial and television resources, to ensure that this blockbuster showdown is indeed just that.

Cha-ching! … hopefully.

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Former Elite XC female superstar Gina “Conviction” Carano (7-0) still has plans to face off against Brazilian rival Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos (6-1) even with the collapse of Elite XC, according to a recent interview with Fighters Only magazine.

Here’s a snip:

“I want to make (a fight against Cyborg) happen. My people are in touch with her, so we’re going to make sure we sign together for the same promotion.”

That sounds like a great idea, considering it was a match up that most fans were looking forward to seeing sometime in early 2009. The question now is, which promotion is going to sign these two world class strikers to go toe-to-toe once and for all?

Here’s a look at the possibilities:

• UFC — The promotion has never expressed much interest in putting on female fights. President Dana White has said in the past that there just aren’t enough good female fighters to put together a competitive division. There’s still a slight chance he would sign these two because their fight would be so easy to sell, but it’s a long shot.

• WEC — See above.

• Affliction — By looking at the numbers this company produced with its inaugural event in July, a match like this could certainly help them improve on those for the second event scheduled in January. It would seem like perfect timing, too, since that’s when Elite XC had planned for the fight to go down anyway. The only thing that could prevent Affliction from signing this fight is the broken relationship the company now has with Randy Couture, who happens to be Carano’s head trainer and mentor. She could have some mixed feelings about dealing with the t-shirt company turned mixed martial arts promotion because of the falling out. “There’s a bit of a barrier between me and Affliction,” she recently said. “You know, with Randy and that whole thing. But if they approach me with an offer, who knows?”

• Strikeforce — Perhaps the best fit. The San Jose-based organization has always been willing to include female fights on its cards. Not only that, but Strikeforce is also still trying to build its fan base and grow as an organization. A Gina Carano vs. Cyborg Santos fight would be a great draw for them on a possible future live NBC televised event. Not to mention that NBC seems like a logical landing spot for Gina anyway, given the role she already plays as “Gladiator Crush” on the network’s popular remake of “American Gladiators.” Therefore, Strikeforce seems like the most likely of scenarios.

• Japan (DREAM or WVR) — Probably won’t be as marketable of a fight in Japan as it’s sure to be in the states. It’s not totally impossible, but probably even less likely than the UFC.

• Other smaller promotion — This fight needs to happen on a big stage. Anything else would be a travesty.

Of course, this is all conjecture. The only thing we know for sure is that these two chicks want to fight each other and pretty much the entire MMA community wants to see it.

Let’s hope one of these organizations steps up and delivers.

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“I think it’ll be in February, and it’ll be cool. Everybody wants to see this fight, we both [fought] on the last event and won, and it’ll be great. I’ll stand with her, and I think she likes it too, so why not? It’ll be a huge fight and someone is going down.”

– Powerful Chute Boxe striker Cristiane “Cybrog” Santos tells Tatame.com that she’ll likely face undefeated Muay Thai star Gina Carano in February 2009 since both fighters recently won their respective bouts at Elite XC: “Heat.” It’s perhaps the most highly anticipated match in the history of female mixed martial arts. As also stated by “Cyborg” both girls like to stand and trade, which looks to be a highlight reel waiting to happen for one of them. Let’s hope she’s right and the match gets confirmed soon by the promotion.

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EliteXC “Heat” is set to go off on Oct. 4 from the Bank Atlantic Center in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. The CBS broadcast card is headlined by two heavyweight battles, first Kimbo Slice will take on MMA legend Ken Shamrock in the main event. Co-headlining the card is a battle between former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei “The Pitbull” Arlovski and the big boy of the IFL, Roy Nelson. MMA

CageToday.com will have live results of card starting at 8pm ET.

BREAKING NEWS: Ken Shamrock was not allowed to fight after suffering a cut within 24 hours before the fight. He will not fight and has left the arena. The Seth Petruzelli and Aaron Rosa fight has been skipped, it is rumored that Petruzelli will replace Shamrock and take on Kimbo Slice.

RESULTS AFTER THE JUMP

MAIN CARD

• Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock
  Results:
• Andrei Arlovski vs. Roy Nelson
  Results:
• Jake Shields vs. Paul Daley [T]
  Results:
• Gina Carano vs. Kelly Kobold
  Results:
• Benji Radach vs. Murilo “Ninja” Rua
  Results:

PRELIMINARY CARD

• Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos vs. Yoko Takahashi
  Results: Cristiane Cyborg defeats Yoko Yakahashi by Unanimous Decision. (30-26 and 30-27 x2)
• Edson Berto vs. Connor Heun
  Results: Conor Heun defeats Edson Berto by TKO (Punches and Elbows) at 2:18 of R2.
• Seth Petruzelli vs. Aaron Rosa
  Results: Fight Skipped, It is expected that Petruzelli will replace the injured Ken Shamrock.
• Lorenzo Borgomeo vs. Mikey Gomez
  Results: Mikey Gomez defeats Lorenzo Borgomeo by Submission (Armbar) at 4:06 of R2.
• Jorge Bouchat vs. Nicolae Cury
  Results: Nicolae Cury defeats Jorge Bouchat by Submission (Reverse Triangle Choke) at 1:35 of R1.
• David Gomez vs. Bryan Hamade
  Results: Bryan Hamade defeats David Gomez by Submission (Guillotine choke) at 2:03 of R1.

elitexc: heat links

EliteXC “Heat” News Archive
EliteXC “Heat” Weigh-In Results

elitexc: heat videos

ESPN Interview with Kimbo Slice
Andrei Arlovski Interview
Interview with Ken Shamrock
Gina Carano talks Cybor and Being Single

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EliteXC “Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock Weigh-In Results

Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson (234.5) vs. Ken Shamrock (206.5)
Jake Shields (169.7) vs. Paul “Semtex” Daley (170)
Andre “The Pitbull” Arlovski (240.7) vs. Roy “Big Country” Nelson (262.7)
Gina “Conviction” Carano (141) vs. Kelly Kobald (141) *
Murilo “Ninja” Rua (185) vs. Benji Radach (185)
Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos (148.5) vs. Yoko Takahashi (148.5)
James Edson Berto (157.7) vs. Conor Huen (160.7)
Seth Petruzelli (205.5) vs. Aaron Rosa (204.7)
Lorenzo Borgomeo (170.2) vs. Mickey Gomez (170.2)
David Gomez (138.7) vs. Bryan Hamade (138.75)
Jorge Boechat (159.5) vs. Nicolae Curry (161.2)

Gina Carano took three attempts to make weight. 142.75, 142.5, 141 pounds.

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Bout agreements have been signed by Elite XC female competitors, Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos and Yoko Takahashi, to compete on the under card of the October 4 “Saturday Night Fights on CBS” event in Sunrise, Florida.

The confirmation comes from a Tatame.com interview with Rafael Cordeiro, one of the top trainers out of the Chute Boxe camp in Brazil.

Here’s a snip:

“She’ll be at EliteXC’s October 4th show, again live by CBS, at Florida, against a Japanese fighter, Yoko Takahashi. She’s a very tough fighter and it’ll be a great fight. We signed the contract yesterday and Cris will fight her.”

Takahashi (13-9-1) is listed at close to 160 pounds, which is pretty big for a female fighter. She’ll certainly have to cut some weight to get down to the Elite XC 140-pound limit, but the bottom line is that she’ll have a definite size advantage in this fight. She’ll also have the edge in experience as this will be career fight number 24, as opposed to this being only Cyobrg’s sixth professional contest.

Cyborg — the wife of Pride FC veteran Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos — is coming off a crowd-pleasing win over Shayna Baszler in front of a nationwide CBS audience. She took a huge step in that fight in regard to making a name for herself in this sport. Her Muay Thai looked to be top notch as she picked apart the more experienced Baszler on her way to a second round technical knockout.

After the fight the CBS cameras panned over to Gina Carano sitting cageside. Carano was even quoted as saying, “lets do this,” creating an instant buzz about a possible October 4 showdown. Kelly Kobald, however, was recently revealed as Carano’s October 4 opponent, leaving Cyborg and a lot of fans scratching their heads.

According to Cordeiro, a fight between his female fighter and Carano is still a possibility for the future.

Here’s another snip:

“They’re impressed with her performance. Gary Shaw, EliteXC’s VP, said that she’s the most brutal athlete he had ever seen and that Gina is a star of the event, but now Cris is a star too. We’re very happy, we saw that he was praising both of them, and said that they can face each other.”

If both Carano and Cyborg can pull off victories on October 4, it looks like we will get to see them mix it up inside the Elite XC cage, but Yoko Takahashi and Kelly Kobald will do everything they can to make sure that doesn’t happen.

Robbie Lawler: $90,000 (which included a $45,000 win bonus)
def. Scott Smith: $14,000

Nick Diaz: $60,000 (no win bonus)
def. Thomas Denny: $8,500

Jake Shields: $45,000 ($10,000 win bonus)
def. Nick Thompson: $25,000

Cristiane Cyborg: $6,000 ($3,000 win bonus)
def. Shayna Baszler: $8,000

Antonio Silva: $200,000 ($100,000 win bonus)
def. Justin Eilers: $20,000

Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante: $20,000 ($10,000 win bonus)
def. Travis Galbraith: $5,000

Wilson Reis: $5,000 ($2,500 win bonus)
def. Bryan Caraway: $2,000

Anthony Ruiz: $5,001 ($3,00O win bonus)
def. Jeremy Freitag: $2,5000

David Douglas: $4,000 ($1,500 win bonus)
def. Marlon Matias: $2,500

Carl Seumanutafa: $4,000 ($2,000 win bonus)
def. Mike Cook: $2000

Drew Montgomery: $3,000 ($1,500 win bonus)
def. Brandon Tarn: $2,000

Total Payout: $533,501

All reported payouts don’t include deductions for insurance, licenses, gym dues, management commissions, and taxes. They also don’t reflect fighter sponsorships, signing bonuses and sometimes PPV percentages.

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Shayna Baszler vs Cristiane Cyborg - EliteXC Video
[See post to watch Flash video]

EliteXC “Unfinished Business” is set to take place Saturday July 25 from the Stockton Arena in Stockton, CA. The will be EliteXC second show to broadcast live on CBS. With EliteXC’s mainstream fighters on the bench, this show will test weather EliteXC can draw viewers without a name like Kimbo or Gina on the card.

To the hardcore fan, this card is solid top to bottom. Lawler vs. Smith One proved to be a battle before the controversial stoppage at “EliteXC Primetime“. Jake Shields vs. “The Goat” Nick Thompson should be a great fight for the EliteXC welterweight belt.

Good or bad Nick Diaz always puts on a show. Shayna Baszler vs. Cristiane Cyborg might possibly be the most competitive female fight EliteXC has ever put on.

Be sure to check out CageToday.com around 7 pm EST, for the live results of both cards.

CBS Card

Robbie Lawler vs. Scott Smith
Jake Shields vs. Nick Thompson
Nick Diaz vs. Thomas Denny
Shayna Baszler vs. Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos

Showtime Card

Antonio Silva vs. Justin Eilers
Rafael Feijao vs. Travis Galbraith
Wilson Reis vs. Brian Caraway

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Scott Smith, Jake Shields and Cristiane Cyborg at an open workout for the press to promote “EliteXC Unfinished Business” on CBS. I’m looking forward to the Lawler-Smith rematch as well as Cristiane Cyborg taking on the always entertaining Shayna Baszler.

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