This Day in MMA History: August 15

Fans and media alike often throw out the term “pioneering” too easily when referring to fighters or historical events. However, in discussing Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg and its main event participants, Gina Carano and Cristiane Justino, it is the only term that fits.

“Cyborg” and Carano were, of course, not the first women to have a no-holds-barred fight in a ring or cage, not by a long shot. Women had participated in mixed martial arts nearly from its inception, competing alongside men as well as in all-female events since the mid-1990s. However, women’s fights had largely been relegated to sideshow status, regarded by most promoters as a curiosity at best and a waste of time at worst—remember Dana White maintaining well into the 2010s that women would never fight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

What the 27-year-old Carano and 24-year-old Justino did represent was the first women’s matchup with the requisite combination of star power and competitive excellence to justify headlining a major MMA event. It is worth noting that neither Carano nor Justino was enough individually; critical mass was only achieved when they were brought together. “Cyborg,” then known by her married surname, Santos, had mauled her way to a 7-1 record with a blend of brute strength and vintage Chute Boxe ferocity never before seen in women’s MMA, but in her three fights thus far in the United States, she had bounced back and forth between the main card and the prelims. Carano was a budding superstar whose looks had already propelled her beyond the MMA bubble and onto “World’s Hottest Women” magazine polls and lists of the most searched-for celebrities online, yet the matchup would have been an unmarketable farce if not for the fact that she could absolutely fight, having gone 7-0 against some of the best women in the sport. In short, they needed each other.

One other thing that “Cyborg” and Carano had in common was that both had been beating up smaller women, for the most part. Justino had been gradually whittling down to 145 pounds over the last two years, while Carano had been trying—not always successfully—to make 140-pound catchweights in order to meet opponents recruited from the much more populous bantamweight division. In each other, each woman was seeing a fellow true featherweight of comparable size and skill for the first time. It was a fitting matchup for the inaugural Strikeforce women’s featherweight title.

The fight, which took place on Aug. 15, 2009, delivered for as long as it went on. There were multiple swings of momentum, including a scramble which ended up with Carano landing in full mount, but in the final minute of the first round, “Cyborg” took the fight to the ground for the last time. After a keylock attempt, Justino elected to simply throw leather. Carano turned to her side and covered up, and referee Josh Rosenthal put an end to the beating at 4 minutes, 59 seconds of the first round.

“Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg” delivered in the business sense as well. It drew a peak of 856,000 viewers—which would be a more than respectable number even now, 11 years later—and its average of 576,000 set a new Showtime record for an MMA event, bumping “Kimbo Slice” from the top spot.

Carano never fought again despite several rumored massive offers to return, choosing instead to pursue a highly successful acting career. Justino, Strikeforce belt in hand, went on to add Invicta FC, UFC and, most recently, Bellator MMA featherweight titles to her collection. From October 2010 until her 2018 loss to Amanda Nunes, she was the top pound-for-pound woman in the sport, and remains on the short list of greatest women in MMA history.