Want more wrestling news, rumors, and results? Be sure to visit PWInsider.com and PWInsiderXtra.com.
There is no question right now that Gina Carano is the most popular female fighter in the mixed martial arts world right now. There is also no question that Gina Carano has fought top female MMA fighters like Julie Kedzie, Elaine Maxwell, Rosi Sexton, Tonya Evinger and Kaitlin Young. Like Spiderman has with Venom, or Superman has with Lex Luthor and like Tom has with Jerry, Gina Carano has her biggest rival in the very dominant Cristiane Santos.
Most people, including myself, believed that Gina Carano would be fighting Cristiane Santos after Cristiane Santos destroyed Shayna Baszler at Elite XC On CBS II. Instead, Gina Carano will be taking on Kelly Gobold-Savin, who has a record of sixteen wins, two losses and a draw. That’s not to say that Kelly Gobold-Savin isn’t a top quality opponent for Gina Carano, but everybody in the MMA community wants to see Gina Carano take on Kelly Gobold-Savin.
However, as much as Kelly Gobold-Savin will be posing a challenge for Gina Carano, the fight everybody will still want to see is Gina Carano versus Cristiane Santos, which could be overshadowing the Elite XC On CBS III fight. As much as Gina Carano is the face of women’s MMA, a non-fight with Cristiane Santos could do irreversible damage to Gina Carano’s MMA career.
From a promotional perspective, how can you properly promote Gina Carano versus Kelly Gobold-Savin when everybody wants to see Gina Carano versus Cristiane Santos? This could very well turn into a situation where the upcoming fight could be overshadowed by the potential future fight.
Elite XC can only promote Gina Carano as the face of women’s MMA for so long without having her fight Cristiane Santos. Eventually, if this fight doesn’t occur, the Elite XC and Gina Carano fan base will start to precipitate elsewhere to other fighters and promotions.
With Elite XC currently riding a wave of momentum after their first two events on CBS and with Gina Carano as their biggest star outside of Kimbo Slice, the last thing the promotion needs is their top female fighter to lose credibility with the fans.
Also, something to really think about is the proposed Elite XC 140lb. Women’s Title, which you have to think Gina Carano is a top contender for to become the inaugural champion. Now lets just say that Gina Carano does become the champion without previously fighting Cristiane Santos, will that devalue the championship that could potentially be around her waist?
With Elite XC currently having strong champions in Antonio Silva (Heavyweight), Jake Shields (Welterweight), Robbie Lawler (Middleweight) and KJ Noons (Lightweight), it would behoove the company to not have their women’s champion look weak. Especially, when comparing to men’s MMA, the women’s MMA competition isn’t as popular or up to the competitive level of the men yet, despite their rise in popularity in recent years.
I must also give Cristiane Santos credit in her own right as well because if she didn’t destroy Shayna Baszler in July during Elite XC On CBS II, then this column may not have been penned for awhile or maybe forever. As much as Gina Carano is the face of women’s MMA, Cristiane Santos could become the most dominant female fighter in MMA history.
There is a good line from the MMA inspired movie “Never Back Down” in which an MMA coach tells the main character that “everybody has their fight.” The “Fight” Gina Carano has in her MMA career is going to be Cristiane Santos and it is a fight everybody is going to want to see.
You can contact David Tees at bigtees360@yahoo.com
