Doggy Bag: Just One of the Boys?
The Doggy Bag
Jul 19, 2010
Everyone answers to somebody, so we, the staff at Sherdog.com, have
decided to defer to our readers.
“The Doggy Bag” gives you the opportunity to speak about what’s on your mind from time to time.
Our reporters, columnists, radio hosts, and editors will chime in
with our answers and thoughts, so keep the emails coming.
This week, readers weigh in on how Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos would fare against a 145-pound male opponent, the “signature wins” of the sport’s best and Karo Parisyan’s comeback attempt.
I know that this discussion will only be theoretical and we'll probably never know for sure. However, but I'd love to hear from Loretta Hunt on this issue.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on the talent gap that exists between female and male MMA fighters. Would Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos be successful in the WEC men's featherweight division or would she not even be competitive?
-- Chris
Loretta Hunt, news editor: Thanks for the email, Chris. We are hearing more and more that Cris Cyborg is on another level from her female counterparts. But does that mean we should throw her in the cage with Urijah Faber?
Honestly, I feel vastly under-qualified to give you an educated answer on this. Other than being a female too, I don’t have that much more in common with Santos. I’ve never fought a man or woman and I’m not sure my objective eye, though experienced, is sharp enough to discern how she’d fare against the opposite sex.
What I can do is hunt down two people who would be able to speak on the matter with some authority.
Strikeforce lightweight K.J. Noons has sparred a handful of times with Mrs. Cyborg at The Arena gym in San Diego, Calif., while trainer Eric Del Fierro has worked with her twice a week for the last couple of months.
According to Noons, the 25-year-old women’s champion could hold her own to a degree.
“I believe (male vs. female fights) wouldn’t be that competitive, but every now and then there is a special athletic woman that can compete with men in fighting,” said Noons. “I believe Cris is one of them. Can she be competitive if she fought in the WEC? Yes, she could. Would she be champ? If I knew the answer to that, I’d be a billionaire and I wouldn’t be fighting.”
Noons said he’s caught Santos getting the better of more than a few training partners during sparring and grappling drills around the gym.
“When I see her fight other guys, she’s usually beating them up or manhandling them,” he said. “When I spar with her, we’re just working; I’m giving her work. When she goes full speed on me, she definitely has the power of a man. She throws like a 145-pound man.”
Del Fierro, who also trains fighting couple Kerry and Brandon Vera on a regular basis, finds that the two factors separating the (wo)men from the boys are power and agility.
“Both sexes train like animals, but what makes Cris so good is that her conditioning is just so incredible,” said the trainer. “She’s able to set the pace on any opponent she faces. She doesn’t beat them by being technical. She beats them with her conditioning. She trains just as hard as some of the men out there. She’s aggressive, she comes forward, and she never gasses. She’s agile, but she’s still a female. There’s still a big difference. They don’t have that natural testosterone production that men have. Men are built more for strength and there’s just a big gap between the two.”
Overall, Del Fierro concedes that Santos is one of the strongest females he’s worked with at 145 pounds.
“Yes, she could be competitive but not at the level of some of the talent the WEC is bringing in,” said Del Fierro, who guided Dominick Cruz to the promotion’s bantamweight title earlier this year. “She could go in there and do well against some of those guys, but there’s still a big difference between men and women and the dynamics of their own strength levels and agility. She doesn’t have the foundation of wrestling that some of the guys have in that division. There’s no way you could throw her against Urijah Faber or Jose Aldo and expect her to do great.”
It should be noted that both Noons and Del Fierro clearly stated to me that they wouldn’t like to see Santos, or any female fighter for that matter, face the opposite sex in the cage or ring.
“I believe women should just fight women and men should just fight men,” Noons told me. “Personally, it’s not something I would find appealing.”
Del Fierro agreed, though he ventured to guess that Santos could more than hold her own outside the cage.
“If she was walking down the street and a 145-pound man decided to take her purse, he’s gonna get beat down,” said Del Fierro.
Chris, I hope this offers you some insight as we ponder the literal battle of the sexes and I’m sure we’ll all go to bed tonight grateful that we aren’t Scott Coker.
“The Doggy Bag” gives you the opportunity to speak about what’s on your mind from time to time.
Advertisement
This week, readers weigh in on how Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos would fare against a 145-pound male opponent, the “signature wins” of the sport’s best and Karo Parisyan’s comeback attempt.
I know that this discussion will only be theoretical and we'll probably never know for sure. However, but I'd love to hear from Loretta Hunt on this issue.
Other sports have had some cases of elite female athletes trying to
compete against male athletes. Billie Jean King and Annika
Sorenstam have had some success competing against men in their
respective sports. At the other extreme, the best female hockey
player in the world, Haley Wickenheiser, tried to play professional
hockey in a men's league. Despite all her success in women's
hockey, she was relegated to being a bench warmer for a Div III
men's team in Finland and never scored a goal. The female winner of
the 2010 Boston Marathon would have finished 41st overall against
the men.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on the talent gap that exists between female and male MMA fighters. Would Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos be successful in the WEC men's featherweight division or would she not even be competitive?
-- Chris
Loretta Hunt, news editor: Thanks for the email, Chris. We are hearing more and more that Cris Cyborg is on another level from her female counterparts. But does that mean we should throw her in the cage with Urijah Faber?
Honestly, I feel vastly under-qualified to give you an educated answer on this. Other than being a female too, I don’t have that much more in common with Santos. I’ve never fought a man or woman and I’m not sure my objective eye, though experienced, is sharp enough to discern how she’d fare against the opposite sex.
What I can do is hunt down two people who would be able to speak on the matter with some authority.
Strikeforce lightweight K.J. Noons has sparred a handful of times with Mrs. Cyborg at The Arena gym in San Diego, Calif., while trainer Eric Del Fierro has worked with her twice a week for the last couple of months.
According to Noons, the 25-year-old women’s champion could hold her own to a degree.
“I believe (male vs. female fights) wouldn’t be that competitive, but every now and then there is a special athletic woman that can compete with men in fighting,” said Noons. “I believe Cris is one of them. Can she be competitive if she fought in the WEC? Yes, she could. Would she be champ? If I knew the answer to that, I’d be a billionaire and I wouldn’t be fighting.”
Noons said he’s caught Santos getting the better of more than a few training partners during sparring and grappling drills around the gym.
“When I see her fight other guys, she’s usually beating them up or manhandling them,” he said. “When I spar with her, we’re just working; I’m giving her work. When she goes full speed on me, she definitely has the power of a man. She throws like a 145-pound man.”
Del Fierro, who also trains fighting couple Kerry and Brandon Vera on a regular basis, finds that the two factors separating the (wo)men from the boys are power and agility.
“Both sexes train like animals, but what makes Cris so good is that her conditioning is just so incredible,” said the trainer. “She’s able to set the pace on any opponent she faces. She doesn’t beat them by being technical. She beats them with her conditioning. She trains just as hard as some of the men out there. She’s aggressive, she comes forward, and she never gasses. She’s agile, but she’s still a female. There’s still a big difference. They don’t have that natural testosterone production that men have. Men are built more for strength and there’s just a big gap between the two.”
Overall, Del Fierro concedes that Santos is one of the strongest females he’s worked with at 145 pounds.
“Yes, she could be competitive but not at the level of some of the talent the WEC is bringing in,” said Del Fierro, who guided Dominick Cruz to the promotion’s bantamweight title earlier this year. “She could go in there and do well against some of those guys, but there’s still a big difference between men and women and the dynamics of their own strength levels and agility. She doesn’t have the foundation of wrestling that some of the guys have in that division. There’s no way you could throw her against Urijah Faber or Jose Aldo and expect her to do great.”
It should be noted that both Noons and Del Fierro clearly stated to me that they wouldn’t like to see Santos, or any female fighter for that matter, face the opposite sex in the cage or ring.
“I believe women should just fight women and men should just fight men,” Noons told me. “Personally, it’s not something I would find appealing.”
Del Fierro agreed, though he ventured to guess that Santos could more than hold her own outside the cage.
“If she was walking down the street and a 145-pound man decided to take her purse, he’s gonna get beat down,” said Del Fierro.
Chris, I hope this offers you some insight as we ponder the literal battle of the sexes and I’m sure we’ll all go to bed tonight grateful that we aren’t Scott Coker.
