Cyborg, Playboy and rude comments that might be justified

Guess what boys, a female MMA star has just been offered an invitation to pose for Playboy. Before you go grabbing for the Kleenex, it’s not Gina Carano or Sarah Ponce or Miesha Tate, but Cris “Cyborg” Santos.

Years ago, stumbling around Amsterdam I learned an important lesson: You cannot unsee things in life. Certain images will haunt you for the rest of your days (as anyone who has watched WWE star Chyna’s porn can tell you). You can shower but you will not be clean.

I have a ton of respect for Cyborg. She holds the Strikeforce 145-pound women’s title, easily beating Carano and simultaneously shortening the amount of time I spend in the shower by about five minutes (hurry up, make that movie, Steven Soderbergh!). Cyborg will defend her Strikeforce title on January 30 against Marloes Coenen. She trains with the Chute Boxe Academy and is an outstanding athlete. There has been a lot of speculation that she takes performance enhancing drugs, but as far as I know she has never failed a drug test so these accusations are almost vindictive in nature since there is no evidence that her athletic prowess is attributable to anything other than hard work.

MMA has a peculiar relationship with female fighters, often focusing more on their personal lives than their fighting abilities. There is not much hype about who Wanderlei Silva is dating and Playgirl will not be calling him anytime soon. That said, some female MMA fighters (notably Carano, Tate and Ponce) pose suggestively for men’s magazines, thus promoting themselves as a sex symbol as well as fighters. Therefore, commenting on what they do as hotties, as well as fighters, is fair game.

Cyborg vs. Carano was billed by some as Beauty vs. the Beast. As far as I know, Cyborg had never publicized herself as anything other than a fighter. Therefore, I thought commenting on her looks was inappropriate. However, once she admits she’s considering posing for Playboy, her looks become a fair target.

Cyborg says that in her entire life only one man has seen her naked and she needs to “think deeply” about posing for Playboy. If she decides yes, I’ll be buying “Jugs” that month instead.