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For the people who have supported me this far..I wanted to take time to collect my thoughts and speak from the heart rather than spew out some cliché anecdote about a tough loss. I know I am a better fighter than the way I performed that night and was heartbroken to not give more to those who have been inspired. However, I find some relief in knowing that this has never been only about me, and now more than ever I feel freedom to learn and grow at my own pace. I make it a point to constantly remind myself throughout this journey who I am, what I am doing, and why. Life is the most amazing gift and I want to live it for the right reasons. To my family, coaches, management… thank you from the bottom of my heart for believing in me, loving and encouraging me. Also a special thanks to the fans who support me from their computers at home, watch me on television and scream for me in the stadiums. Because of you, barriers have been broken down and you have inspired me to believe in a larger dream. Congratulations to Cris Cyborg and the women of MMA who have a great platform to shine. I am more excited than ever for female fighters and this amazing sport which has transformed my life. God Bless.

—Gina Carano on her MySpace blog addressing her fans for the first time since losing to Cris Cyborg earlier this month

“I feel freedom to learn and grow at my own pace.” Sounds like a huge weight was lifted off Gina’s shoulders. Perhaps the loss was the best for her in the long run…

Meanwhile, in case you were wondering what Dana White thought of the Carano-Cyborg fight, he offered his two cents after press conference on Thursday. He liked it, but…

“I thought it was an exciting, entertaining fight. You know that’s the first fight I’ve ever watched of another organization since we’ve owned this company? That’s what a psycho I am. I wanted to see the fight. I was in California, and I watched it, and I like Gina. I wanted to see how it went…I had some questions. Why was Gina in the mount? Why did she stand up when she was in the mount and get off? I think there was a lot of inexperience on both of their parts in that fight, which made it very entertaining. Did I say that the right way to not sound like I’m smashing them? Because I’m not. I found the fight entertaining, and I found it entertaining because I think there was a lot of lack of experience between both girls…In making a good female fight, Carano and ‘Cyborg’ were probably the best two you could have, and I don’t think that fight was at UFC level.”

Ah, he just had to slip that in there at the end, didn’t he?

Image via Showtime

Franklin McNeil is reporting that Jake Shields will probably either face Matt Lindland or Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza for the Strikeforce Interim Middleweight title this fall.

The CSAC has released the fighter payouts for Strikeforce “Carano vs Cyborg.” Keep in mind, these figures represent the base contracted pay the fighter receives from the promotion. These figures do not include any additional undisclosed bonuses or sponsorship money, which in many cases exceeds a fighter’s base pay. These numbers also do not account for taxes, insurance, and license fees.

To no one’s surprise, Gina Carano raked in the highest purse of the night earning $125,000. Good to see she’s finally getting the payday she deserves. Her opponent, Cris Cyborg, took home one fifth of that.

The number that clearly stands out the most however is Gegard Mousasi’s. He only made $2,000 in disclosed pay. It’s still unclear exactly which parties he’s under contract with and how it all works. First it was Strikeforce who was loaning him to Afflicton and if you listen to DREAM, they’re loaning him to Strikeforce. And then you throw M-1 in the mix and the picture gets even cloudier. In short, it’s complicated, but he definitely made a lot more than $2,000.

Payouts

Courtesy of MMA Mania:

• Cristiane Santos: $25,000 ($20,000 + $5,000 win bonus)
  Gina Carano: $125,000
• Gegard Mousasi: $2,000 (no win bonus)
  Renato Sobral: $75,000
• Gilbert Melendez: $50,000 (no win bonus)
  Mitsuhiro Ishida: $30,000
• Fabricio Werdum: $50,000 ($25,000 + $25,000)
  Mike Kyle: $14,000
• Jay Hieron: $55,000 ($25,000 + $30,000)
  Jesse Taylor: $12,000
• Scott Lighty: $4,000 (no win bonus)
  Mike Cook: $2,500
• Justin Wilcox: $5,000 ($2,500 + $2,500)
  David Douglas: $5,500
• James Terry: $6,000 ($3,000 + $3,000)
  Zak Bucia: $2,000
• Alexander Trevino: $3,500 ($2,000 + $1,500)
  Isaiah Hill: $2,000

Total Payout

A disclosed total of $468,500, including bonuses, was paid out to the fighters.

Last Saturday night’s rating are in, and if you’re Strikeforce and Showtime, you’re probably happy campers right now.

Despite the UFC counter-programming with a replay of their biggest event in history, Strikeforce managed to draw the highest rating ever for a MMA broadcast on Showtime with 576,000 average viewers. The previous mark was held by EliteXC for their Kimbo vs Tank show which drew 511,000 average viewers. Naturally, since Spike TV is in a little more than four times the number of households as Showtime the UFC 100 replay still outdrew them.

Strikeforce’s event averaged 576,000 viewers (and peaked with 856,000 for the night’s main event at midnight). UFC 100 averaged two million viewers, and it’s 1.8 rating (513,000 viewers) was the highest-rated program in the male-18-34 demographic during its timeslot.

Additionally, Spike TV edged Showtime in that demo with 513,000 viewers to the premium channel’s 181,000.

Unfortunately, it’s impossible to tell exactly what kind of dent the UFC made in the Strikeforce/Showtime ratings, but it clearly wasn’t enough to keep them from having a record show. Whether the 576k would been closer to 900k (my hypothetical made-up number) had the UFC not countered, we’ll never know, but I have to believe Strikeforce and Showtime are considering this a success.

Obviously Gina Carano was the star of the show, but since she lost what does that mean for Cyborg? Will she become a draw now?

What will really be interesting to see later this year is what kind of numbers Fedor’s debut pulls in. He hasn’t proved to even be on the same planet as Gina in terms of drawing power yet, but his acquisition sure attracted a lot of attention, and not solely in the MMA media. Will his debut tank in the ratings or is he finally starting to get the attention he deserves?

Image via Showtime Sports

Oh boy, here we go again.

Mitsuhiro Ishida’s camp has filed a verbal protest to the California State Athletic Commission allegedly that Gilbert Melendez greased in Saturday’s match on Showtime.

Mitsuhiro Ishida completely failed where he found a ton of success in his first go-around with Gilbert Melendez. That alone doesn’t mean Melendez was greasing, and I’m not saying he did or he didn’t, but it’s at least enough to raise an eyebrow and warrant a second look in light of this allegation.

Image via Showtime Sports

Update: Melendez is denying the accusation.

“I did not grease in the fight,” said Melendez. “The athletic commission was with me the whole time. I didn’t bring any grease with me. I didn’t think there was much grappling in the fight anyway.”

“It’s kind of funny, but kind of weak,” he said. “I beat him good and there’s no way I greased.”

The CSAC says Ishida’s camp has yet to file a formal complaint in writing and will need to within five days of the bout to make the complaint an official matter.

“[Gina] was done. We’re not gonna contest that. The ref pulled her off, she wasn’t answering, she wasn’t going anymore…I don’t want to take anything from Cyborg. She’s a great fighter, a dominant force in that division…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…I think everybody at home knows that, too.”

—Xtreme Couture’s Shawn Tompkins talks to the Las Vegas Sun about Gina Carano’s performance against Cris Cyborg

As Steve Cofield points out, we still have yet to hear from Gina herself on the loss. We don’t know what was going through her head during and after the fight, and if the pressure actually did get to her. One thing was clear though, we’re used to seeing Gina deliver the beatings, not take them, and Cyborg definitely gave her one. Whether that was because Cyborg was just better or because Gina wasn’t herself, I don’t know, probably both, but this doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing for her career. Instead of stepping into an even bigger spotlight with more distractions, this loss will allow here to take a small step out of it for the time being and focus on improving herself as a fighter both physically and mentally which she’ll certainly need when the rematch happens. I wouldn’t count Gina out just yet.

Image via Showtime Sports

Ref cams are awesome (wish Dan Miragliotta had been wearing one for Sadollah-Hendricks). Of all the replay angles, this one most clearly shows why Josh Rosenthal stopped the Carano-Cyborg fight. As you can see, Cyborg slips a big shot right through Gina’s arms prompting Josh to call it. Yeah, it sucks that it happened literally at the last second, but it wasn’t a bad stoppage.

Here’s a rundown of all the post-fight news and notes coming out of last night’s Strikeforce event via Sherdog and MMA Junkie.

Fox News Fight Game’s Mike Straka and Fanhouse’s Ariel Helwani made the interview rounds following last night’s Strikeforce event. FFG in the playlist above and Fanhouse in the playlist after the jump.