Gina Carano, as most know, has a very strong muay thai background. She’s come up in combat sports through muay thai under Master Toddy, one of the best muay thai trainers in the world, and will absolutely look to keep the fight standing against Kobold. She has been training at Xtreme Couture trying to round out her game, working on grappling and jiu jitsu but that aspect of her game is still very raw. While she did submit Tonya Evinger with a rear naked choke, jiu jitsu and the ground game are not where she prefers to be. Even though Kobold is well rounded, Carano’s advantage will be in the standup. Her standup is much more refined that Kobold and if she’s able to keep the fight on her feet then it should be Carano’s fight to lose.

Carano is coming off a victory over Kaitlin Young at EliteXC “Primetime” in June via TKO at the end of the second round. Young was considered to be Carano’s toughest test to date and Carano handled her with ease, using her superior reach, striking and power to swell Young’s eye almost completely shut. And all this was done with very little training, as Carano trained sparingly leading up to the fight because of her rigorous American Gladiators schedule.

Kelly Kobold trains out of Team Bison MMA with Mike Reilly, who also manages and trains EliteXC heavyweight prospect Brett Rogers. Kobold is the more experienced MMA competitor in the fight, having fought in nineteen MMA bouts against the best women in the business, including bouts against Shayna Baszler, Tara LaRosa, and Julie Kedzie. She’s been training with Team Bison since she was 18 years old and has racked up a 17-2 record during the time she’s been in the game. A lot of people, including myself, thought that Kaitlin Young was Carano’s toughest test to date. Kobold is all of that and more. She brings a ton of experience and an all around MMA game to the table. She will be an absolute handful for Carano to handle.

Kobold has been absent from the cage for a year. She is coming off two losses in a row, first to Tara LaRosa and then to Julie Kedzie, both coming within a two month span in the summer of last year. This will be her first fight in over a year and from everything she’s said she sounds absolutely prepared to go to war with Carano. She’s no pushover. She took Tara LaRosa into the fourth round before succumbing to an armbar. She’s beaten Shayna Baszler. But can she take beat Gina Carano?

My gut tells me no. Although Kobold is a very game competitor and more than likely the biggest threat to Carano that we’ve seen her face yet, I don’t think Kobold has what it takes to beat Carano. Carano beat Kaitlin Young handily during their fight in June with very little time spent training. She trained for the fight but not as much as she’s been training for this fight. American Gladiators isn’t taping right now and she has upped her training regimen and has spent a ton of time preparing for this fight.

As long as making weight isn’t an issue and her conditioning is where it needs to be I don’t see Carano losing this fight. She should be the bigger, stronger competitor and she should be able to keep the fight standing, which is where she wants to keep it in order to come out on top. Kobold will give Carano a very tough fight, there’s no doubt about that, but I don’t see Kobold having enough firepower to contend with Carano, especially when Gina turns it on. I’ll take Carano via unanimous decision. Kobold will have enough to go all three rounds with Gina but Carano should be able to outlast her.

The move stunned quite a few people in the boxing world because plans had been in motion for a rematch between Mayweather and Oscar De La Hoya to take place on Sept. 20. The fight has been canceled and with it, Mayweather is walking away from a $20 million payday for the fight.

“It is with a heavy heart that I write you this message today,” Mayweather said in a statement. “I have decided to permanently retire from boxing. This decision was not an easy one for me to make as boxing is all I have done since I was a child. However, these past few years have been extremely difficult for me to find the desire and joy to continue in the sport.

“I have said numerous times and after several of my fights over the past two years that I might not fight again. At the same time, I loved competing and winning and also wanted to continue my career for the fans, knowing they were there for me and enjoyed watching me fight. However, after many sleepless nights and intense soul-searching I realized I could no longer base my decision on anything but my own personal happiness, which I no longer could find. So I have finally made up my mind, spoken to my family, particularly my mother, and made my decision.”

To me, the decision makes little sense. While there were very few hurdles left in climb in boxing for Mayweather, to walk away from $20 million for just one more fight speaks volume. I don’t think he’s walking away to take up golf or sit around and play shuffleboard. Mayweather is still a relatively young man (he’s 31) still in his athletic prime. There has to be something else going on here that we don’t know about.

Mayweather participated in a pro wrestling angle for the WWE earlier this year, which culminated in a featured match with Paul “The Big Show” Wight at Wrestlemania this past match. Mayweather’s haul for the performance has been rumored to be anywhere between $2-20 million. Officials were said to have been happy with Mayweather’s performance and the door was left open for his return.

In addition to pro wrestling, Mayweather has also flirted with the idea of getting involved with MMA. In recent months, Dallas Mavericks owner and HDNet Fights founder Mark Cuban announced that Mayweather was looking to get involved in MMA. It was unclear at the time as to whether he was looking to become a competitor or get involved in an ownership capacity.

But the timing of Mayweather’s announcement is very curious. UFC President Dana White revealed earlier this week that a huge announcement is planned for this coming Thursday. I speculated in a column earlier today that I believe it will have to do with network television. But what if I’m wrong and the announcement had to do with Mayweather signing a contract to fight for the UFC?

Sounds a bit far fetched, doesn’t it? Well, the idea of Mayweather walking away from a $20 million payday is equally far-fetched. For him to walk away from that kind of money likely means he’s walking towards something that could be even more lucrative. I’m just not 100 percent sure what it is.

From Yahoo! Sports:

“He represents himself in a different manner and it’s not the way I think is correct for our athletes,” Stevenson said. “You don’t brag about how much money you make. That’s totally disrespectful. I’ve seen him in clubs and I’ve seen the way he treats people and I can tell you, that’s not the kind of a guy we want representing this sport.”

Joe Stevenson isn’t pulling any punches. As a matter of fact, he sounds pretty confident that he would beat Floyd if given the opportunity:

“Boxing and MMA are different sports. He’s a great boxer. He’s the best. I was rooting for Ricky Hatton and I have to give Floyd credit for doing what he did. But he’d be in an entirely different sport. And yeah, his strikes would be intimidating, but I’d take him down. He’d have to be able to defend a takedown and that sounds a lot easier than it is.”

And finally, Stevenson represents his argument as to why MMA doesn’t need Floyd Mayweather:

“I don’t think we need that kind of attention,” Stevenson said. “We have a great sport and a lot of people are beginning to realize that, more every day. We don’t have to bring in the best boxers just to get people to pay attention to us, because they’re realizing what a great sport we have already.”

Exactly. Like Notorious B.I.G. once said: Mo’ money, mo’ problems. MMA doesn’t need Floyd Mayweather. In fact, he’s the last thing the sport needs. He brings exactly the kind of “me first” attitude that the sport has yet to be tainted by, save for the Randy Couture situation.

And what happens, if say, Floyd does happen to fight in a mixed martial arts bout? He’s going to command a huge payday. Guys who have been busting their asses for years to break into the elite levels of mixed martial arts are getting by on enough to feed their families while still maintaining a day job. Is it fair that a guy with little training and no experience should command a huge payday when he hasn’t paid his dues in the sport? No.

Mayweather has proven himself in the boxing ring, nothing more. He doesn’t deserve the platform that he’ll receive if he does end up crossing over. We’ve seen what the guy does when he’s on a platform. It’s “me first.” Mo’ money. Mo’ problems.

“He is serious,” Cuban responded in an e-mail. “He isn’t going to rush into it. Bottom line is that Floyd is a great businessperson. He sees the money in MMA and knows there are many opportunities there. We are exploring all of them, including getting in the cage. Again, he won’t rush into it. He knows MMA and boxing are two different sports and he respects MMA athletes. He doesn’t take the best lightly.”

Cuban believes that Mayweather’s work ethic will lend itself well when it comes to learning the multiple fighting disciplines needed to excel in MMA.

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“It would be huge,” Cuban is quoted as saying in a new article furnished by the Associated Press. “He’s an icon in boxing. He’s conquered that world. He is the champ and he wants to be the biggest grossing all-time champ as well. … Having him work with MMA and HDNet Fights would be huge. It would take it to a whole other level.”

Cuban and Mayweather bonded recently during this past season’s “Dancing with the Stars” reality TV show on ABC. Cuban was even a part of Mayweather’s entourage for the recent Ricky Hatton fight.

So how did their friendship progress to Cuban pitching Mayweather on MMA?

“We discussed him coming out to some of the gyms and one hand helping some of the fighters we’re working with on their boxing skills,” Cuban is quoted as saying. “And on the flip side, he can get a sense of what it’s going to take to make the conversion.”

This reeks of nothing more than a P.R. stunt to me but Mayweather is more than welcome to prove me wrong. His involvement would no doubt be great for the sport. I just don’t think it would be great for his career. He can make much more boxing than he ever could in MMA.

“Floyd Mayweather Jr., the world’s No. 1 boxer, is strongly considering a revolutionary jump to mixed martial arts under a deal being discussed with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.”

Prior to his huge fight with Oscar De La Hoya on May 5th, 2007, Mayweather made some very condescending remarks towards the UFC. So much so that UFC President Dana White brought then-UFC lightweight champion Sean Sherk with him to publicly call-out boxing’s pound for pound king, Mayweather.

After defeating De La Hoya, Mayweather backed off on his comments that boxers were better fighters the mixed martial artists. Mayweather claimed he was just trying to drum up even more interest in his fight with De La Hoya.

Has Mayweather changed his mind? Apparently, Mark Cuban thinks there is a chance. Cuban believes that his friendship with Mayweather stemming from their participation last season on Dancing with the Stars could potentially lead to Mayweather stepping into HDNet fights’ cage.

“If I said there’s a guaranteed $30 million payday, Floyd would be lacing them up,” Cuban said.

The obvious question is could there even possibly be an MMA payday of 30 million of Mayweather? The clear answer is no. For Mayweather to compete in MMA, the motivation would have to be that he wants to be known as the best fighter in the world and not the just the best boxer in the world. If money is his motivation, this will not happen. It will just go down as another way for Mayweather to keep his name in print with the mainstream media.

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