‘Cyborg’ Finishes Carano in First Round

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The queen of MMA has been crowned.

Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos easily toppled Gina Carano via a technical knockout from strikes 4:59 into the first round to take Strikeforce’s 145-pound women’s title on Saturday at the HP Pavilion.

“Since the beginning, I knew this fight would be hard,” Santos said through a translator. “That’s why I trained so hard for this fight. The key for tonight was five years of training.”

In the debate of technicality versus power, Carano had little answer for Santos’ relentless aggression.

Santos, 24, attacked Carano at the bell, cornering and overwhelming “the face of women’s MMA” with a slew of punches on the fence.

Carano reacted with a throw that sent the Brazilian to the canvas, but Santos was already in motion, sitting back for a heel hook attempt.

The 27-year-old beauty escaped, but Santos continued to stalk Carano around the cage, beating her to the punch in numerous exchanges.

The pair kept an exciting, feverish pace that had the crowd on its feet for the duration. Carano attempted to find her range, landing a solid left jab, but Santos kept advancing.

Again, with her back against the wall, Carano took down Santos but chose to back out.

Santos punished Carano with a right leg kick, and Carano answered with kick that the Brazilian caught and shrugged off.

Santos then took down Carano with a minute remaining and went to work on a keylock from which the Las Vegas native wiggled free. However, Carano could not fend off Santo’s onslaught and rolled to a fetal position, as the Brazilian teed off. Referee Josh Rosenthal wisely put an end to the punishment with only one second left on the clock.

“I want to thank all the fans,” Santos said. “I train a lot, and everything I do is for the fans.”


Source: Sherdog.com