Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg
First women's main event in major MMA history.
Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg was a mixed martial arts event held on August 15, 2009, in San Jose, California. It aired live on Showtime and marked the first time two women headlined a major MMA event.
Quick Facts
- Promotion
- Strikeforce
- Date
- August 15, 2009
- Venue
- HP Pavilion
- Attendance
- 13,976
- Gate
- $736,000
- Purse
- $468,500
- City
- San Jose, California, United States
Facts from the source article.
Did You Know?
- The event set a new MMA ratings record for Showtime, eclipsing a card headlined by Kimbo Slice and Tank Abbott.
- The Carano vs. Cyborg main event peaked with 856,000 viewers.
- The event more than doubled the viewership of Strikeforce's previous offering, Lawler vs. Shields.
Background
The main event featured Gina Carano facing Cris Cyborg for the inaugural Strikeforce Women's Championship at 145 lb, with five five-minute rounds. Joe Riggs withdrew from his bout with Nick Diaz on July 23, 2009, due to a drug reaction; Diaz was then scheduled to fight Jay Hieron for the Welterweight Championship but missed a pre-fight drug test and was denied a license. Jesse Taylor replaced Diaz, and the fight became a non-title bout. Josh Thomson could not unify his lightweight championship with interim champion Gilbert Melendez due to injury; Mitsuhiro Ishida replaced Thomson, and the bout became an interim title fight for Melendez's belt. Erin Toughill's previously announced bout was called off, and she became the reserve fighter for the women's main event.
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