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Shayna Baszler vs. Christiane Santos Review

Shayna Baszler vs. Christiane Santos Review
Shayna Baszler vs. Christiane Santos Review

Shayna Baszler vs. Christiane Santos Review Elite XC again included a female fight on Saturday night’s CBS broadcast, and Christiane “Cyborg” Santos from the Brazilian Chute Box Academy absolutely mauled Shayna “The Queen of Spades” Baszler in a second round TKO. At no point did Baszler look like she would be able to do anything against Santos other than take punishment and try to stall the action.

Shayna Baszler vs. Christiane Santos Review

The Santos vs. Baszler fight was the first bout on the Elite XC broadcast, and referee Steve Mazzagatti welcomed the ladies to the center of the cage for final instructions. The viewers at home noticed a large amount of blood already on the mat, looking as if a murder scene had yet to be taped off. Both fighters showed respect and touched gloves, and the first round begins. Santos charges in, and immediately lands a left, left, right combination of punches, all finding their mark, as Baszler mostly covers up and misses with her counter punches. Santos then acquires the Muay Thai clinch on Baszler, and punishes her body with 3 right knees to the mid-section.

Baszler smartly ties up and twists Santos down to the ground, and although awkward, the takedown gets Shayna out of harm’s way for the moment. Baszler goes for a toe hold submission attempt lasting over 30 seconds, using up a huge amount of energy for no return. The major difference between the male and female fight game is flexibility, and Santos showed great agility as she rolled with Baszler, not panicking, and finally Shayna gave up on the submission and fell back into Santos’ guard. The rest of the first round saw Baszler eat strikes from the guard, and when she did escape, Shayna went straight for another takedown, only to eat more shots on her back as the first round ended. It was clear that in round one, Baszler did not want to stand with Santos.

Round two starts off with the two ladies standing and trading, something that Baszler did not handle well in the first few seconds of the round one, and after gassing herself with a fruitless toe hold in the first round, Baszler has nothing left. Santos clinches, putting her left hand behind Shayna’s head, and smashing her face with at least three right hand punches. Christiane Santos then went to end the fight, pinning Baszler up against the cage, and ferociously working her over with combinations of punches, and elbows.

Baszler then goes for a waist lock takedown, which looked feeble at best. Baszler was so tired at this point she could barely even hold her hands together, and Santos quickly broke the grip as Shayna fell to the ground. After 4 minutes of action, Shayna Baszler is completely gassed, and Christiane Santos looks crisp and explosive. Baszler stands and Santos lands an equally powerful and quick right, left, right, left punch combo that backs her opponent up yet again, plus a solid Muay Thai knee to the head, and another punch combo with two fierce rights finding their way through puts Baszler up against the cage again.

Then one of the fastest ten punch combos you will ever see lights up Baszler’s face, and she crumbles to the mat at 1:30 of round number two. Christiane Santos runs to the side of the cage, climbs on top, and is celebrating when referee Steve Mazzagatti informs her that even though he should have stopped the fight at that point, he has not, and Santos looks stunned. There is no way that Baszler needs to eat any more punishment. Unfortunately, Mazzagatti thinks otherwise. The viewers at home are then treated to the second fastest 10 punch combo of this bout, with a stiff right to Baszler’s jaw dropping her head first forward into the ground, and now Mazzagatti mercifully ends the fight.

Christiane “Cyborg” Santos was absolutely dominant from the beginning to the end of the fight, showing great stamina, very competent ground defense, good ground offense, and most importantly, incredible striking power and quickness. Elite XC had a reporter interview Gina Carano after the bout, and she indicated that a fight with Santos is what she wants. Carano also states that she will be fighting in October, and she is excited about a possible bout with Santos. The rest of the female MMA fighters in the world probably do not share Carano’s opinion.

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