MMA SUPERSTAR GINA CARANO TO HOST CARANO-CYBORG WEEK ON SHO 2

Posted on | August 7, 2009 | No Comments

Fight Week Special To Feature Past Carano and Cyborg Fights

Leading up to the LIVE August 15 STRIKEFORCE Showdown

Carano vs. Cyborg for the First STRIKEFORCE Women’s Championship

NEW YORK (August 6, 2009) –- Mixed Martial Arts’ (MMA) leading lady, the undefeated and extremely popular Gina “Conviction” Carano will host Carano-Cyborg Week on SHO 2, a special series featuring past fights of hers and her impending opponent, Brazilian powerhouse Cris Cyborg.

The series, which is part of the nightly program SHO Sports Presents, will air on fight week, Monday, Aug. 10 – Friday, Aug. 14 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on SHO 2.

The most anticipated matchup in the history of women’s MMA is also one that is undeniably the most dangerous assignment to date for the pair—universally regarded as the preeminent female fighters in the world.

Monday’s installment features a Carano triple header with replays of her thrilling victories over Julie Kedzie, Tonya Evinger and Kelly Kobald. In her fourth professional MMA fight, Carano defeated Kedzie via unanimous decision in the first MMA fight on premium television. Carano submitted Evinger in her next fight on SHOWTIME on Sept. 15, 2007 and won a unanimous decision over Kobald on CBS on Oct. 4, 2008.

Tuesday’s episode will air Robbie Lawler and Scott Smith’s second fight in which Lawler scored a second round knockout. The episode will also feature Cyborg’s knockout victory over Shayna Baszler. Both fights originally aired on CBS on July 26, 2008.

The third installment features Carano’s technical knockout of Kaitlin Young on May 31, 2008. In what was arguably the most exciting fight on the history making CBS telecast, Carano scored the TKO when the ringside doctor declared Young unable to continue after the second round. Lawler and Smith’s first fight, which ended in a no contest when Lawler accidently poked Smith in the eye, will also re air that evening.

Thursday’s episode will feature a replay of the Carano tripleheader.

The final installment, set to air just one day before the highly anticipated Carano-Cyborg battle, will feature Cyborg’s most recent fight, a third round knockout over Hitomi Akano on April 11, 2009. The episode will also feature Nick Diaz’s destructive victory over MMA legend Frank Shamrock from the same evening.

The live SHOWTIME telecast of STRIKEFORCE: “Carano vs. Cyborg” will begin at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT (tape delayed on the west coast).

Tickets for STRIKEFORCE: “Carano vs. Cyborg,” priced from $30, are on sale at the HP Pavilion box office (408-287-7070) as well as at all Ticketmaster locations (800-745-3000), Ticketmaster online (www.ticketmaster.com), and the official STRIKEFORCE website (www.strikeforce.com).

HP Pavilion doors will open for the event at 5 p.m. The first preliminary bout will begin at 5:30 p.m.

After co-promoting two events live on SHOWTIME in 2007 and 2008, STRIKEFORCE in March 2009 signed a multi-year agreement to stage live MMA events on the premium cable television network.

About Strikeforce
Strikeforce is a world-class mixed martial arts cage fight promotion which, on Friday, March 10, 2006, made history with its “Shamrock vs. Gracie” event, the first sanctioned mixed martial arts fight card in California state history. The star-studded extravaganza, which pitted legendary champion Frank Shamrock against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Cesar Gracie at San Jose’s HP Pavilion, played host to a sold-out, record crowd of 18,265. Since 1995, Strikeforce has been the exclusive provider of martial arts programming for ESPN and, after 12 years of success as a leading, world championship kickboxing promotion, the company unveiled its mixed martial arts series with “Shamrock vs. Gracie.” In May 2008, West Coast Productions, the parent company of Strikeforce, partnered with Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment (SVS&E), an entity created in 2000 to oversee all business operation aspects of the San Jose Sharks and HP Pavilion at San Jose.

About Showtime Networks Inc.

Showtime Networks Inc. (SNI), a wholly owned subsidiary of CBS Corporation, owns and operates the premium television networks SHOWTIME®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL® and FLIX®, as well as the multiplex channels SHOWTIME 2™, SHOWTIME® SHOWCASE, SHOWTIME EXTREME®, SHOWTIME BEYOND®, SHOWTIME NEXT®, SHOWTIME WOMEN®, SHOWTIME FAMILY ZONE® and THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ XTRA. SNI also offers SHOWTIME HD®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ HD, SHOWTIME ON DEMAND® and THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ ON DEMAND. SNI also manages Smithsonian Networks, a joint venture between SNI and the Smithsonian Institution. All SNI feeds provide enhanced sound using Dolby Digital 5.1. SNI markets and distributes sports and entertainment events for exhibition to subscribers on a pay-per-view basis through SHOWTIME PPV®.