Elite XC, Kedzie vs. Carano

[treelizard]

I think she's 12-1 or something.

[SamuraiGuy]

Oh c'mon at least watch the whole thing.

Why watch it all, I know it goes to a decision, I know Carrano is dominating, and I dont really have any vested interest in it, it's really not that interesting a fight, as a fight itself, or as a "changing the shape of mma" type thing.

[treelizard]

Because I thought Julie looked a lot stronger in the last round. Or don't watch it, I'm not attached.

[Garland]

I was suprised by that fight actually. I know Toddy's fighters have some of the best stand-up I've seen, and his girls are especially fierce...Angela Rivera, Gina Carano, etc. I would have thought, however...that the smart money would've been on Kedzie. Kedzie seemed more polished in MMA and certainly had more impressive credentials listed on the Showtime thing, I mean, if she trains with Sensei Erik Paulson...and has 3 submissions under her belt...I figured she'd probably manage to somehow duck one of Carano's shots and get force her to tap.

Damn, was I wrong. Kedzie ended up landing like two good thai kicks to the thigh that looked like they hurt like hell, and almost had an armbar and a triangle...Carano unleashed some really mean blows, and somehow managed to reverse or defend virtually every takedown...and ended up beating the hell out of Kenzie. Right as the bell rang for the first round, I thought Carano was going to spike Kenzie on her head against the fence...mean, mean, mean.

I was moved by the whole thing...and although I've seen plenty of women's matches...I've never seen one on tv. Call me sappy and cheesy but I actually cried a little bit. It was that emotionally moving for me to see this sort of thing actually come into the light. All those women I know and used to train with who had so much talent and worked just as hard if not harder than their male counterparts to overcome the stereotypes around women fighting are now able to be given RECOGNITION on the scale they deserve, and hopefully, they will be seen and ACCEPTED as much as their male counterparts by the public.
MAD props to these girls, all the girls who came before them, all the girls fighting now, and the promoter and everyone else who had the foresight, the guts, and everything else to put this thing together and put it out there on this scale. Hopefully now people will start to respect female fighters, instead of seeing it as a sideshow. (relatedly, all those people who produce the fake sexist foxy boxing shit like this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bDCZ2HJTFY

and similar pervy shit are taking the whole thing 3 steps back and deserve to be put in the ring with the Leela Alis, Lucia Rijkers, and the Caranos and Kedzies of the world.)


I'm VERY happy to see women in MMA become more mainstream. **** Dana White for saying he wouldn't have them in the UFC...I'm sick of the UFC anyway...have been since UFC 4. (PRIDE kicks ass, though)
Oh well, looks like now I can check out this program instead, same great quality of fighters, sans the chauvanistic bullshit and the whole "TapOut" attitude.

on a semi-related note...
Did anyone else notice Kit Cope chilling with his arms out in Carano's corner? I know he's a veteran muay thai guy and has an exercise or sports fitness degree...I wonder how good of a corner he is???

[Garland]

What I'm wondering, and some friends of mine were discussing, is whether it always feels this set up. Or whether it's as set-up as we think it is or if we're just getting into the conspiracy theory mode...

I guess the 3-minute round thing could just coincidentally favor a stand-up fighter, and might not have anything to do with them trying to set one up to win, right? And I guess a lot of people drop weight to fight in an unnatural weightclass and end up weighing a lot more than their opponent at the time of the fight, right? Oh and the fifteen second rule.... and why she was picked to fight in the first place.... Kinda makes me wonder. Interested in thoughts.

Uh...that sounds about right for any fight for guys too, especially the weight thing. I mean, shit...the one golden rule of fighting to win is to try not to let it go to the cards, right? The guys had to abide by the 15 second rule and the round rules too, right? Carano has a bomb takedown defense...and Kenzie didn't really sink what she had, she looked like she was trying to muscle it and force a sub when she didn't have it yet.

I do agree that these girls are not "the face" of women's MMA, but give Carano a little credit for the fight at least! I mean, God, sure, it's not Howe, or Toughhill, or Watanabe Hisae (one of my favorites...)...but they did get placed in front of an audience that might not have been otherwised exposed to serious women's fighting...and although they may be amatuer's compared to the those names...they may have broken ground for those vets to come out and get some recognition from a larger audience...

you dig? I mean...I hope...

[treelizard]

She was a good, crisp stand-up fighter. I'll give her that. And she can't be blamed for the "face of women's MMA" comments. But I could do without her "I'll fight anyone" comments when she's obviously not willing to step up and do so. I guess I just wish that someone who had put their time into MMA had been given this chance...Tara LaRosa, Amanda Buckner, Jennifer Howe, Roxanne Modafferi (my personal favorite), Debi Purcell, Erin Toughill, the list goes on and on. I think it's sad that so many women who have put YEARS into women's MMA and I feel deserve this break were told that they "have too much experience." It's disconcerting that Carano was marketted because of her connections etc. and not her MMA experience.

About your vid link... And they actually were trying to get Miss Mississippi to fight Carano for this fight (no joke--I guess she had a couple of foxy boxing fights). And that promoter was totally creepy, I don't care what anyone says. I still think the three-minute rounds just so happens to favor stand-up fighters, but who knows. Oh, and Kedzie totally won that last round.

Anyway, I'm over it. IFL is planning on doing women's MMA and according to Debi Purcell their concern is talent and skills, woo hoo! Plus there's that fight in LA this weekend, I wish I could go.

[Garland]

She was a good, crisp stand-up fighter. I'll give her that. And she can't be blamed for the "face of women's MMA" comments. But I could do without her "I'll fight anyone" comments when she's obviously not willing to step up and do so.

I guess I just wish that someone who had put their time into MMA had been given this chance...Tara LaRosa, Amanda Buckner, Jennifer Howe, Roxanne Modafferi (my personal favorite), Debi Purcell, Erin Toughill, the list goes on and on. I think it's sad that so many women who have put YEARS into women's MMA and I feel deserve this break were told that they "have too much experience." It's disconcerting that Carano was marketted because of her connections etc. and not her MMA experience.

About your vid link... And they actually were trying to get Miss Mississippi to fight Carano for this fight (no joke--I guess she had a couple of foxy boxing fights). And that promoter was totally creepy, I don't care what anyone says. I still think the three-minute rounds just so happens to favor stand-up fighters, but who knows.

Oh, and Kedzie totally won that last round.

Anyway, I'm over it. IFL is planning on doing women's MMA and according to Debi Purcell their concern is talent and skills, woo hoo! Plus there's that fight in LA this weekend, I wish I could go.

1) the "I'll fight anyone" comment is probably not bullshit...however her promoters and managers might be throwing wrenches in the works.
2) I agree that there are many women out there that should've been the first up for the breakthrough of women's mma into the mainstream. And it is disconcerting that she got the fight over many others who had more experience.
3) Yeah? That's totally fucked. Oh well...Miss Mississippi would probably regret it pretty quickly. It might be fun to watch as a one-sided fight.
4) I don't know what fight you watched. Carano was more agressive, landed more shots, and managed to out-manuever Kedzie...and seemed much more comfortable boxing Kedzie in around the fence. She cornered her every time.
5) Good to hear!

[treelizard]

Sherdog scored it 10-9 in favor of Kedzie as well.

I don't think Carano has the experience to be in the ring with all the other ladies who requested to fight and were turned down. I guess that's what my point is. Even though this is the biggest breakthrough in women's MMA it won't mean shit for all of the top-level fighters who are "too experienced" or aren't pretty enough or aren't in Gina's weight class. And that's lame. And this isn't just about this fight. I could go on and on about this and about every documentary or article that's misrepresented women's MMA but it's boring and I'd rather focus on the positive. If nothing else this could help pave the way for all the top level fighters of the future.

[Garland]

I agree...I'd like to see the top athletes in women's MMA come to the forefront...and hopefully this is a step to that.

Fighting isn't about looks...I mean...who here thinks Randy Couture is pretty? In the first couple of UFC's, Handsome Royce won...and his art was showcased...I mean, the Gracies were pivotal in starting MMA in the US...and the whole thing didn't come about through altruism...but they've tended to evolve and progress to where fighters are showcased by their skill, not by their affiliations or attractiveness.

Still...the fight game IS show business...and fighters build personas and acts in order to gain popularity...which is great if you're a typical spectator, but pretty lame when you have a vested interest in the advancement of the sport over the show. ...I guess that's what I mean to say...I'm not very articulate today...

by the way...happy V-D...or SAD, tree.

[treelizard]

Yeah, it totally plays into marketability. I remember reading something one of my favorite fighters wrote about how she knows if she grew her hair long and wore tight clothes she'd get more fights, but she's chosen not to. I don't know how much of an issue it is for the guys, obviously not as much but I think it comes into play a little bit with the rampant steroid use.

It's funny because it's the exact opposite of what you do when you're training...in MMA or any martial art that's mostly guys. Anyway...

Happy V-D too! Isn't that tomorrow? What's SAD?

[Garland]

Singles awareness day...also seasonal affective disorder.