Gina Carano and Cris Cyborg Santos stripped to their underwear and stepped onto the scales for a standing-room only crowd at the San Hose Marriot last night; Carano with an easy, almost embarassed smile and Cyborg with her customary scowl. Both fighters have been the cause of abundant speculation and buzz, having failed to make weight repeatedly on recent fights. But this time both Carano and Cyborg were right on target, Carano coming in at 143 and Cyborg at 144.5.

I need just a moment to comment. (I posted the picture that I’m seeing EVERYwhere — it’s Showtime’s image and I have no idea how to get permission to use it, if they ask I’ll take it down, of course.) Would you LOOK at Cyborg’s abs? Is anyone else just a little bit freaked out by this chick? Gina, on the other hand, just looks gorgeous; phenomenally fit but not steroidic. (Did I just invent a word, there?) If I had more complimentary superlatives in my head I’d employ them on Carano’s behalf, but frankly I look at this woman and I’m speechless. Sigh, boxing crush.

Here’s the weigh-in video for you:

At my gym last night all the talk was about the impending Carano Cyborg weigh-in, and about cutting weight. I mostly stood on the fringes of the interesting conversations and gleaned information.

If Carano, for example, had not made weight but Cyborg had, Cyborg’s team would have had the power to request a portion of Carano’s purse for the fight, or even call the fight off completely. One person told me that if the fighter who doesn’t make weight is contending for a title, the current title holder (if that’s who they are fighting) can even agree to fight but not for the title in question. I can totally see how that would piss off the fans who had paid big money to see the fight. So, the ability to cut and/or make weight is important.

Apparently there are two main practices: starve and dehydrate. I can go without food more easily, but the notion of dehydration rather horrifies me because I have extremely low blood pressure, and being low on liquids even for part of a day gives me the faints. But apparently people who employ these practices can cut and recover up to 15 pounds in the space of 24 hours. Yikes. That appears to be why weigh-ins are often scheduled for the day before a fight, rather than immediately prior to the match, so that fighters can recover.

How did we get into this stupid practice? It seems to me that everyone would be healthier if we made weigh-ins an hour before the fight. No one would be dehydrated, exhausted, strained, or faint.

But I seem to be the only one who thinks so.

So. Today Carano and Cyborg are trying to take it easy, fueling back up and mentally preparing themselves for tonight’s fight. No matter who wins, history will be made, as this is the first major MMA fight event with women headlining the card.

Word from my fight team is that it will be extremely short: they think a few minutes at most, with Carano winning in a KO. However, I think Cyborg is too damn tough to go down that quickly. I’m hoping for a little bit more.

I’ll be tuned in, and I’ll try not to phone any of you in the middle of the night to babble excitedly about the results. But if you plan to go to bed early tonight, I recommend you go ahead and turn off your ringer.

Image Credit: Esther Lin/STRIKEFORCE

Related posts:

1. Fiiiight! Gina Carano and Cris Cyborg
2. Fight trading
3. Fighting in the Golden Gloves

View Original Post at theglowingedge.com

• Filed Under:  
• MMA, Sports, SportsPLUS, Events

• Tags:
• women
• history
• boxing
• mma
• fighting
• gina carano
• weight
• cris cyborg santos
• fight
• muscle
• cutting weight
• dehydration
• headliners
• weigh-in

There are 3 comments on this post. Join the discussion!

madiq

Cutting weight comes from the wrestling tradition, and if same-day weigh-ins occurred, there'd probably still be weight cutting, but the fighters would probably be weaker without proper time to re-hydrate. I don't mind the current system too much.

Saturday, August 15, 2009 at 6:49pm EDT

Lisa Creech Bledsoe

You make a valid point, and you sound like a fighter yourself.

I'm just thinking that if we did weigh-ins an hour before, maybe the best fighter would have an edge, instead of the one who can cut/recover best.

Thanks for reading and commenting!

Sunday, August 16, 2009 at 1:45pm EDT

AnnGaff

Lisa, that's an interesting idea because if they had to weigh in an hour before, they might be more likely to lose the weight gradually, starting weeks or months before the fight, as opposed to cutting it all in the last week, because they won't have any time to recover from a drastic dehydration in one hour. That's much different than having same-day weigh-ins, say in the morning, when fighters can still take the rest of the day to recover and therefore would probably go ahead and take the dehydration route.

The problem is, if someone misses weights, you either don't have that fight or you push the entire show back to allow them more time to cut weight. This wouldn't work, obviously. I think the current system is the lesser of the evils because they do have a full 24 hours to replenish and recover before go-time.

Sunday, August 16, 2009 at 2:05pm EDT