The Bad

One of the big controversies before the event was [tag]Gina Carano[/tag] not being able to make weight, again.

In the WEC, the bantamweight class sits at 135lbs, with Carano notoriously famous for not making weight - this fight was set for 140lbs.  Conviction tipped the scales at 144.5lbs, ugh.  Along with this being a giant slap in the face to Kaitlin Young (not making weight is considered to be very disrespectful as it comes off as not preparing for the fight properly) Gina suffered a 12.5% purse reduction.  Apparently she trained for little more than 3 weeks for this fight. Nice.

The lack of training did show,  halfway through 1st round Carano’s pace did noticeably slow down and she left herself open to counter punches and especially leg kicks that Kaitlin did take advantage of.  Gina ate a few good leg kicks that was left unchecked.

The Ugly

Concerning the stoppage, word on the street was that Carano’s aforementioned face-smashing did not go over well with the commission over at CBS.

The cut likely would have opened in the third but it was under the eye. If I had to guess, I would say that they didn’t want the visual of a woman with a bloody face on CBS. - Kaitlin Young on her thoughts on the stoppage

This alone may be a telltale sign on the general acceptance of women’s mma, it may never come close to being as successful as 2 boys knocking each other’s teeth in.

Gina Carano has already promised a rededication to MMA:

I’m interested in getting back in to the gym and training for two months for a fight instead of three weeks,” Carano said. “That’s what I’m interested in doing. And if that makes me at 145, 150 — whatever it is, I’ll fight at that. I don’t really care what weight I fight at. I just need the two months to put into training, and then I’ll fight anybody.

There is real skill in Gina’s game, whether or not she fully commits to it is up in the air.  She can either be a pretty face with no real skill like [tag]Anna Kornikova[/tag], or a true champion like [tag]Maria Sharapova[/tag] - only time will tell.

Personally - I always thought Sharapova was hotter than Kornikova.