Cyborg is one scary robot

Quick hit: There is a new face of women’s MMA. And the old face isn’t as pretty as it used to be. Cris “Cyborg” Santos has beaten Gina Carano to win the first-ever 145-pound women’s MMA title at the just-concluded Strikeforce event in San Jose. The fight lasted just a tick shy of five minutes as the referee stopped things at the first-round bell with Carano prone and taking bombs to the head from a standing Cyborg Santos.

It was non-stop action from start to finish and there was no way either of these two would’ve had anything left in the gas tank to last more than a couple of rounds at the pace they were going. While Carano was throwing and landing punches, as predicted, Cyborg was the aggressor, dictating the pace, stalking Carano down and mixing up punches with leg kicks that left Carano dazed and wobbly and looking panicky and scared. Maybe the hype got to her, the ring rust since her last fight 10 months ago, or just Cyborg’s vicious Chute Boxe style.

Cyborg got a couple of ugly takedowns and worked for a heel hook early that Carano was able to escape from and she even had Carano’s back a couple of times. Carano did land a few strikes that had Cyborg backing up, but never for long, and Carano’s best opportunity was on one of those Cyborg takedowns when she got lucky and landed in full mount. But instead of unleashing a ground-and-pound, Carano let Cyborg back to her feet. Huge mistake. Huge, huge, huge. She had the dominant position over a bigger, stronger fighter and she let her back up.

In the final moments, Cyborg took Carano down yet again, landed in half-guard and attempted an Americana that Carano wiggled out of. With Carano curled up against the cage Cyborg stepped back and rained down right fists that only the final bell or referee was going to halt.

I’m sure I’ll have more to say on this tomorrow, as well as some reactions from Cyborg and Carano. But for now, exciting fight. Not quite one for the ages, but still impressive, no matter whether it was a women’s or men’s fight. Can’t wait for the rematch.