Carano turns her back on fans, media
Carano turns her back on fans, media and Strikeforce Forrest Griffin has taken a beating the last few weeks for…
Carano turns her back on fans, media and Strikeforce
Forrest Griffin has taken a beating the last few weeks for running from the Octagon and out of the building after his embarrassing loss to Anderson Silva in Philadelphia at UFC 101. Gina Carano didn’t run but she did leave under her own power after her loss to Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos. It wasn’t a visit to the hospital that prevented “The Face of Women’s MMA” to go AWOL from the postfight press conference. Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker didn’t know where she was, nor did Showtime’s Chris DeBlasio. Even her good friend Kim Couture had no idea. We still don’t know if she was angry that the fight was stopped with one second left in the first round. Or if she felt she was winning the round. Or if she’s planning on coming back soon. Does she want a rematch? Did the pressure get to her? Can she ever beat Cristian “Cyborg” Santos? Her no-show left Xtreme Couture trainer Shawn Tompkins to speak on her behalf:
“She was done. We’re not gonna contest that. The ref pulled her off, she wasn’t answering, she wasn’t going anymore,” Tompkins told Andy Samuelson from the Las Vegas Sun.
Thanks Shawn, but it’s a little different hearing the combatant actually say it.
Tompkins said Carano panicked:
“She relayed to us that she felt so much pressure with the fight and everything surrounding it that it got to her. We know Gina very well. We train with her every day; we’ve known her for years; she’s a good friend, like a sister to us all, and that wasn’t Gina Carano in the cage tonight.”
Without Carano present to deal with the same media that had built her up over the last three years, Cyborg was free to poke fun at her:
“She can keep the title of being ‘the face of women’s MMA.’ I’ve got my title right here.”
The event matched any all-male event Cagewriter has covered. There was great energy in the building. The four minute and 59 second round was as exciting as any round in 2009. Female fighters on the highest level deserve the same respect and money the men do but they also have to act like professionals before and after the fight. I don’t blame Carano for holding out once EliteXC went under and asking for a real salary from Strikeforce, but for the good of the promotion, sportsmanship and the future of female fighting, she needed to speak about the loss in the immediate aftermath.
