Fightmania Mailbag: Carano, Lesnar, UFC Roster Cuts

With what seems like a dozen various major title matches this month so far, along with a little history being made by women’s mixed martial artists (as well as your other usual headlines), there’s a lot to talk about.  Here are some e-mails from Fightmania readers who want to have their say on things.

 James from Australia doesn’t see good things for Gina Carano or women’s MMA:

It seems like you’re a Gina Carano fan, but that fight against Cyborg just showed that she is not a top level women’s fighter.  What’s worse, there’s no way that Strikeforce can build up women’s MMA any farther now that Carano has been exposed and Cyborg (who is not as appealing for marketing) is the champ.  You have to admit, things don’t look good for women’s MMA!

I can agree with you as far as that Carano losing in the fashion that she did was not the best possible result for Strikeforce, and obviously Carano herself.  However, to say that she’s done or that women’s MMA is doomed is a bit over-reactive.  Carano would be in a much worse position if she had lost to a no-name opponent or been beaten within the first minute of the fight.

Sure, at times she seemed quite overwhelmed by Cyborg’s aggression (which I saw coming, but thought Carano would respond better to), but Cyborg herself has been built up to be a very respected fighter, so the loss is not all that glaring.  I think that Cyborg’s status rises more than Carano’s stock falls in this case.

Furthermore, there are now enough MMA fans (hardcore and casual alike) who are used to seeing MMA fights between female competitors that Carano has more or less done her job.  I’m not saying that she won’t ever win the title or that she could never beat Cyborg, but even if she didn’t, I think that women’s fighters will at least continue to be featured.  Sure, Carano is the most marketable female fighter, but the real goal was to have female fighters be accepted as real competitors, and that has definitely been accomplished.

Jared from Baltimore, Maryland wants to get my opinion (and share his own) on the recent UFC roster changes:

You HAVE to have seen this crap that the UFC pulled recently by dropping fighters like Thales Leites and Tamdan McCrory while bringing back none other than Phil Baroni.  What the hell???  How can the UFC act like they are a legitimate organization if they are going to drop talented fighters while bringing back guys who haven’t done anything whatsoever?  This is the kind of thing that makes the sport look bad.

I really couldn’t agree with you more.  I am not in favor of dropping young, developing fighters simply because their records aren’t the best after a handful of UFC fights.  For instance, Tamdan McCrory is 3-3 in the UFC, but one loss was by split decision and the other was by a beautiful armbar from none other than Dustin Hazelett, who is no slouch himself.  I’m not saying that McCrory was anywhere near title contention, but it seems like the UFC doesn’t have a lot of patience when building up young fighters.  Sometimes, that comes back to haunt you, as it did when Nick Diaz, Robbie Lawler, Jason “Mayhem” Miller and others, who were allowed to leave after disappointing stretches at a young age, end up becoming stars for opposing promotions.

In the case of Leites, it is even more of a head-scratcher.  This guy was fighting for the middleweight title two fights ago!  Sure, his performance against Anderson Silva was less than remarkable, but can you really hold that against him?  It’s Anderson Silva, for crying out loud!  Meanwhile, they bring back Baroni, who is an exciting fighter but hasn’t been anywhere near the top ten of an MMA weight class in many years now.  The fact that Baroni is coming back to the UFC while guys like Matt Lindland (who has and would wipe the floor with Baroni) are not being asked to come back doesn’t look very good at all.  Is the UFC an organization for the best fighters in the world, or just some of the best fighters in the world as well as a handful of decent ones who are entertaining and marketable?

Rick from Minnesota is a happy Brock Lesnar fan after the news that Lesnar will face Shane Carwin at UFC 106:

I don’t know if you heard this yet, but Brock is going to get to fight Shane Carwin at his next title defense!  After all the smack that Carwin talked, it is going to be beyond sweet to watch Lesnar beat him to a pulp.  We’ve all seen how Lesnar reacts to people who talk too much smack, and Carwin definitely has it coming.  What’s your opinion on this fight?

I think that Carwin had better be getting ready to back up those words!  The final horn had barely sounded on Lesnar’s successful title defense against interim heavyweight champion Frank Mir when Carwin started making remarks on his Twitter account about how Lesnar wouldn’t be able to hold him down the way that he did to Mir.  Carwin was just getting warmed up, and he has continued to bad-mouth Lesnar (as have a lot of fighters who aren’t fond of Lesnar’s antics, to be fair) since then.

Now, Carwin has a big task ahead of him.  Carwin is no small guy himself, and he has very good wrestling credentials, but Lesnar’s wrestling is on another level.  Lesnar is not as polished with the standup game as Carwin is, but I don’t think that Lesnar will give Carwin much of a chance to ply his trade from a standing position.  I think Lesnar has the better cardio, too.  One thing is for sure: what was once a rather average matchup has really picked up some steam with all the bad blood these guys have developed for one another!  Do you guys think Lesnar will have some interesting things to say after that post-fight interview?  Yikes.

That’s it for now, but keep those e-mails coming, and make sure to say your name and where you are from.  You may find yourself in the next Fightmania mailbag!

by Jon Hartley for Fightmania.com

Tags: Anderson Silva, Brock Lesnar, Frank Mir, Nick Diaz, Robbie Lawler, Shane Carwin, Strikeforce, UFC