The Weekly Wrap: July 11 - July 17

Strikeforce presser

Strikeforce hit New York City this week, holding a press conference at Madison Square Garden to hype the Aug. 15 fight between Gina Carano and Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos. The conference streamed live on Strikeforce's website, and represented a heightened marketing effort for the promotion, considering the event will take place on the other end of the country in San Jose, Calif. The promotion has cut a deal with the NFL's Oakland Raiders to offer tickets to the Strikeforce fight and the Sept. 27 Raiders game for a total of $62.

Carano and Santos appeared a bit overwhelmed by the spotlight. In addition to interviews, Carano and Cyborg did some public sparring in an outdoor cage at the press event. Carano confirmed Randy Couture will corner her for the fight. The fight is getting a lot of ad time on the Showtime network, with several ads playing around this past Saturday's boxing card, some of which tied together Carano and a premiere airing of the 2008 "Rambo" film that will play before the Strikeforce card goes live.

Showtime is using the tagline that the fight will redefine “what it means to hit like a girl.” As part of the promotional tour, Carano and Cyborg walked the red carpet at the “ESPY” awards, which air on tape-delay Sunday night on ESPN.

In addition to the press conference, the media day also produced some other Strikeforce news. Promoter Scott Coker told MMA Fanhouse the promotion will be doing 135-pound and 145-pound female tournaments in the near future, and that Jake Shields, coming off a victory over former EliteXC middleweight champion Robbie Lawler, will compete in a bout to crown an interim middleweight champion in October. The opponent has not been announced. The current champion, Cung Le, is tied up with movie shoots as well as his wedding next month. Coker said expects Le to face the interim champion by year’s end.

Also this week, new Strikeforce signee Roger Gracie’s camp said he will not compete on the Aug. 15 event as was originally anticipated because he wants more time with his new son.