Carano/Cyborg Is Not Bigger Than UFC 100

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I’ve heard a lot of whoppers in my day, but the story that Loretta Hunt is trying to pass off over at Sherdog takes the cake. If you missed it on the first pass, let me summarize for you: Loretta believes that the Gina Carano/Cyborg Santos fight will generate more publicity than UFC 100.

It seems ludicrous, but Strikeforce has apparently bought into the hype. They’re having the expected press conference for the August 15th main event, but they’re not having it in the typical Strikeforce markets. No, they’re holding it in New York City, as if doing a press conference in the world’s biggest media market will guarantee them the kind of hype and exposure they’re looking for.

The problem is that Strikeforce is still flying below the radar, and this show is going to be on Showtime. That’s a severe handicap for a fight that would probably have garnered quite a bit of interest from mainstream America. So we’re hyping up a show that won’t be seen by a huge majority of mixed martial arts fans because they don’t have Showtime, and it’s certainly not going to get people to subscribe to an ongoing addition to their cable or satellite bill. Pay per view would have been a much better choice, but a network television slot would have been the ultimate coup.

This fight is a big fight, certainly the biggest non-UFC fight of the summer, but anyone who claims that it’s going to outshine UFC 100 in terms of publicity is fooling themselves. I’m looking forward to the fight just as much as the next person, and it’s certainly a landmark event (and will be treated as such), but to say that it’ll garner more publicity than UFC simply because of the combatants involved in the show is laughable.