Carano getting whupped opened the door for comments like this.

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“MMA is too violent for me and that is exibit “A” for me why I won’t watch. I will never watch women in MMA … You think there is a market for women, was there a big PPV for this…”

-Michael Wilbon
ESPN PTI - August 17, 2009
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When a sport has one shot to make an impression, as Women’s MMA had on Saturday night, this can be the blow-back when the golden child takes a beatdown.

A passing thought today, which I may be totally wrong about … Women’s MMA may have just had it’s 1999 USA Women’s World Cup Soccer win. After that high point, despite lots of enthusiasm and grand plans for growth, the sport of women’s soccer has flailed along with pro leagues coming and going. Hope this was not the high point in history for women’s MMA.

1. For the sake of women’s MMA, Carano-Santos needs to be an exciting fight. The women’s game is still in a fragile state and needs it’s superstars to shine until a deeper bench of talent can emerge.

2. As I said on Fox Fight Game recently, Fedor going to Strikeforce is good for the sport. A strong Strikeforce will expand the growth of fighters in a STABLE U.S. organization and provide leverage and options to what was becoming a monopoly in U.S. MMA with the UFC. (Again, I am not a UFC hater, White and the Fertitta’s saved this sport, but competition is healthy).

3. Spoke with Ken Pavia (Brett Rodgers Agent) recently. A Fedor/Rodgers deal almost happened to save Affliction but too many issues to resolve at the end of the day. Pavia added that Rodgers believes he can compete with Fedor and any fight would last no more than two rounds and end via KO.

4. Matt Serra is maintaining his weight, according to a source close to his camp, and not hitting the pasta as hard as in the past. He expects to return to the octagon before too long.

5. Joe Cavallaro - the president of World Championship Fighting (WCF) in Boston has another great card on deck for September 26 in Wilmington, MA. Cavallaro is also the manager for Marcus Davis, Patrick Cote and Dan Lauzon.

6. John Benoit will be fighting on the Sept. 26/WCF card. Fighting is easy compared to his day job as an iron worker.

7. Does anyone else think AOL Fanhouse-MMA is doing better than MMA Junkie with day by day content recently? I am a fan of both, but find Fanhouse getting more and more sticky as a product.

8. I have become a huge fan of the WEC’s Donald Cerrone. Love his stand-up - always bring it style. Cerrone-Henderson will be a great one.

9. How good has the WEC become as a product. I am conflicted if it will be good for the UFC to absorb the WEC under it’s banner. I assume that would double the amount of UFC events per year and bring more cache to the lower weight classes with the UFC. However, I like the product these days … And I like Todd Harris on play by play - ok, he is an old work buddy, so I am biased.

10. Couture/Nogueira does not excite me. Maia/Marquardt is the most interesting fight on the UFC 102 card.

I took a drive down the coast to Belmar, NJ recently and chatted it up with Kurt Pellegrino about his fight with Josh Neer at UFC 101.

TriStateFighter.com contributor Dan Holzhauer dialed in on one of the undercard fights which will contend for Fight Of The Night honors this Saturday in Philadelphia at UFC 101.

By Dan Holzhauer:

With every passing day, and passing legislation, the world of MMA in the Northeast, United States continues to grow. Area talent will take center stage at UFC 101, when the octagon makes its Philadelphia debut. Boston native Kenny Florian will showcase his world-class talents in the main event, but the true depth of local talent will be measured when up-and-coming fighters John “Doomsday” Howard and Tamdan “The Barn Cat” McCrory collide on the undercard.

Both Howard and McCrory have become poster-boys for the unknown talent that can be found throughout the Northeast. Before signing their first UFC contracts, both men competed solely in local shows such as Combat Zone and Ring of Combat. “We’ve fought in a lot of the same circuits in the Northeast and I’ve seen his fights,” says McCrory. They combined for an 18-4 record across NJ, MA and CT, crossing paths several times. UFC 101 will mark the third time that the two fighters will compete on the same card.

(click through to read full article)

New Jersey’s Ricardo Almeida is coming off a key win over Matt Horwich after a difficult loss to Patrick Cote. Now he is on deck at UFC 101 to fight Hawaii’s Kendall Grove in a ‘fight of the night’ candidate at 185 on August 8. I recently spoke with Almeida at his gym about Grove, Cote, and fighting in Philly. This video is also rolling on FoxFightGame.com.

The only fashion show for MMA clothing hit the Mandalay Bay hotel on July 10 and was the place to be the night before UFC 100. Cage Fashion CEO Marcus Mera had the biggest labels and fighters in the sport on the runway. Check out Randy Couture, Urijah Faber, Lyoto Machida and many more at Cage Fashion 2.

Vitor Belfort may be in for a huge opponent change in Fedor Emelianenko, if he is tapped to step in for Josh Barnett at ‘Affliction: Trilogy’ on August 1st (at press - it is only a rumor). If the Brazilian does take on the #1 fighter in the world, he will need to add about 30 pounds to ramp up from 185 and also be sure to pack the powerful left hand he used to dismantle Matt Lindland from his senses on January 24th in the last match for both fighters.

Despite the savage nature of his victory over Lindland, both fighters were all smiles when they met, by chance, at Xtreme Couture on July 8. Belfort had just finished an intense training session for his originally scheduled fight Vs. Jorge Santiago and Lindland was entering the gym to help Dan Henderson prepare for his UFC 100 fight Vs. Michael Bisbing.

Good to see these two warriors have no hard feelings and were able to exchange kind words in a short impromptu meeting.

Click thru to see large picture.

(note: I took this photo and originally gave it to aol fanhouse as a favor to mike chiappetta and they ran it for a day … but it is tristatefighter.com property … just was slow to post it.)