Why Gina Carano’s Loss to Cyborg Will Hurt Female Mma?

As sad as it is, it could be argued that the majority of people that watch female MMA watch it for the scantily clad women and the pretty faces. You could argue that this is the reason why Gina Carano has became the premier female fighter in women’s MMA history. As a fighter, Gina isn’t exactly the most exciting fighter male or female around, but her good looks have been a good driving factor to her popularity in the states. Ask any MMA fan what is the first thing they think of when they hear “female MMA” and chances are they’ll tell you “the smiling face of Gina Carano”, she is the Muhammad Ali of the female mixed martial arts world, which is why her recent loss to Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos has hurt female MMA more than anything else ever could have.

Cyborg decimated Gina in their scheduled fight on August 15th. There was no doubt about who was going to win after the first minute of the fight. The reason that this win for Cyborg is a loss for female MMA is simple, where Cyborg is easily one of the best fighters in the world male or female she just doesn’t have the same pulling power Gina had. As I aforementioned the majority of people that watch female MMA watch it for the cosmetic factors, now I’m not saying that Cyborg isn’t attractive to some people but there is no doubt that she won’t nearly bring as many people to the sport as Gina was able to. It’s a sad fact that in this division of the sport, looks matter, arguably more than fighting skill which leaves the sport in a dire situation right now where the pretty lesser talented fighter has now fallen behind and the lesser attractive, better fighter is at the top of the heap.

But its more than just looks, its personality. Gina had a great charisma and was able to hold audiences attention for as long as possible, whereas things aren’t quite so great with Cyborg who can’t speak fluent English which could hurt her in the long run if she hopes to stay in the minds of western viewers. It really is a case of what if the personality lacking Joe Frazier had beaten Muhammad Ali and what it would have done to the heavyweight division in boxing. While Frazier did beat Ali the first time, he lost the last two times he fought Ali and boxing has flourished ever since, not to mention that at that time boxing had so many big names that it was OK for the best to take a hit. In this case it isn’t so easy to take as Gina and Cyborg are literally the only two well known female mixed martial artists around, so for one of them to potentially fall off of the radar and out of the sport could spell disaster for women’s MMA as a whole.

Hopefully the two women can rematch and keep the spark of the sport alive for a little while longer.