An electronic scaffold for growing cyborg tissues

To craft synthetic flesh, all you need are seed cellsstem cells or cells from a specific organto form the basis of the material and a scaffold of biological material, which supports the cells as they grow into tissue for patching up hearts orartificial organs. But why grow boring old biological materials when you can create cyborg ones? In a new paper published in Nature Materials, researchers describe how to make synthetic tissues that integrate electronics.

Instead of growing cells on a purely biological scaffold, these researchers used nanowires to build electronic scaffolds and then coat them with biological materials like collagen, forming hybrid scaffolds that included both tissue and technology. With these scaffolds as a base, researchers successfully formed viable cyborg tissue from seed cells, including neurons, cardiac, and smooth muscle cells. The tissue remained viable for a few weeks, but the researchers still need to conduct extended studies to see how these tissues would fare as long-term implants.

So far, the researchers have used the electronics embedded in heart tissue to monitor the contractions of each cell, tracking how exposure to a stimulant made the cells beat faster. Instead of testing drugs on animals, scientists may some day be able to observe their effect on cyborg synthetic flesh.

What about putting cyborg implants into our bodies? The researchers tested scaffolds covered in muscle tissue and found that they could track changes in acidity nearbychanges that, in the human body, can signal inflammation or the presence of a tumor. In the future, implanted biomedical devices like these may let doctors diagnose ailments remotely in real time. Or perhaps the electronics could influence tissue as well as monitoring it, stimulating cell growth through machine-body communication.

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Cyborg Central: Researchers Combine Electronics with Synthetic Tissue | 80beats

Itwas a memorable moment in the movie The Terminator 2: Judgement Day, when the cyborg takes a switchblade knife and removes the artificial skin from his hand. Though thought to be only a cool, futuristic effect, this could soon be reality.

Huffington Post reports that scientists at Harvard have created a cyborg-like tissue made of nano-wires that can reach deep into tissues and read electrical signals from cells.

The team, headed by chemistry professor Charles Lieber, has also embedded the nano-wires in bio-engineered blood vessels that can monitor influences on pH levels within the blood. They have used the tissue to build it into a three-dimensional scaffolding that one day they hope can be integrated directly with living tissues.

With this technology, for the first time, we can work at the same scale as the unit of biological system without interrupting it, Lieber said.

Ultimately, this is about merging tissue with electronics in a way that it becomes difficult to determine where the tissue ends and the electronics begin.

Before the discovery, doctors would encase organs with a flat, flexible device that could only read signals from tissues on the surface. According to the New Scientist, artificial tissue can already be grown and implemented in this way, but this new discovery introduces biological materials that are electrically active within the tissues structure.

The current methods we have for monitoring or interacting with living systems are limited, Lieber stated in a news release.

The aim for the future is tointegrate the nano-wires into prosthetics so that they could communicate directly with the nervous system. The nano-wires could also read signals inside the body and react to injury or illness by releasing drugsor through electrical stimulation.

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Harvard Scientists Create ‘Cyborg-Like’ Tissue

Harvard scientists created 'cyborg' skin from neurons, heart cells, and nano-electronic wiring Wiring allows scientists to detect and respond to pH changes on the tissue's surface, the same as human skin

By Daily Mail Reporter

PUBLISHED: 23:43 EST, 29 August 2012 | UPDATED: 11:31 EST, 30 August 2012

It like its something out of a science-fiction movie genius scientists engineer a synthetic skin thats part living, part electronics.

But scientists at Harvard University have done just that, creating meshes of electronic and biological tissue.

The end result is cyborg tissue, which is created from electrodes and wires combined on a Nano-scale.

Engineering humanity: Scientists at Harvard have found a way to create cyborg skin, using nano-wires to mesh and human cells

High tech: Here, cardiac cells are pictured with a nano-electroic electrode highlighted

The results, published in Nature Materials, detail how scientists in the lab embedded electrical nanowires into the lab-grown flesh.

Dr Charles Lieber, who is a chemistry professor at Harvard and the leader of the research team, told the Harvard Gazette: With this technology, for the first time, we can work at the same scale as the unit of biological system without interrupting it.

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Half man, half machine: Scientists engineer first 'cyborg' tissue - which uses living human cells and organic polymers

TUESDAY, Aug. 28 (HealthDay News) -- U.S. scientists have created a type of "cyborg" tissue by embedding human tissue with a network of silicon "nano-wires" that can detect electrical signals generated by cells deep within the tissue.

This nano-network was also able to measure changes in those cellular signals that occurred in response to drugs that stimulate the heart or nervous system.

The researchers also created bio-engineered blood vessels with the embedded wires, which could detect pH changes that occur both inside and outside the vessels in response to inflammation, reduced blood flow and other influences.

"The current methods we have for monitoring or interacting with living systems are limited," team leader Charles Lieber, a professor of chemistry at Harvard University, said in a university news release.

"We can use electrodes to measure activity in cells or tissue, but that damages them. With this technology, for the first time, we can work at the same scale as the unit of biological system without interrupting it. Ultimately, this is about merging tissue with electronics in a way that it becomes difficult to determine where the tissue ends and the electronics begin," Lieber explained.

The study was published in the Aug. 26 issue of the journal Nature Materials.

There are a number of potential applications for this technology, but the most likely use in the near-term may be in the drug industry. The researchers said they could use the technology to assess how new drugs act in 3-D tissue, rather than in thin layers of cells.

The technology may also one day be used to monitor changes inside the body and provide appropriate responses, such as electrical stimulation or release of a drug, Lieber said.

-- Robert Preidt

Copyright 2012 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

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'Cyborg' Tissue Created Using 'Nano-Wires'

Bioengineers at Harvard University have created the first examples of cyborg tissue: Neurons, heart cells, muscle, and blood vessels that are interwoven by nanowires and transistors.

These cyborg tissues are half living cells, half electronics. As far as the cells are concerned, theyre just normal cells that behave normally but the electronic side actually acts as a sensor network, allowing a computer to interface directly with the cells. In the case of cyborg heart tissue, the researchers have already used the embedded nanowires to measure the contractions (heart rate) of the cells.

To create cyborg flesh, you start with a three-dimensional scaffold that encourages cells to grow around them. These scaffolds are generally made of collagen, which makes up the connective tissue in almost every animal. The Harvard engineers basically took normal collagen, and wove nanowires and transistors into the matrix to create nanoelectric scaffolds (nanoES). The neurons, heart cells, muscle, and blood vessels were then grown as normal, creating cyborg tissue with a built-in sensor network.

Cardiac cells, with a nanoelectroic electrode highlighted

So far the Havard team has mostly grown rat tissues, but they have also succeeded in growing a 1.5-centimeter (0.6in) cyborg human blood vessel. Theyve also only used the nanoelectric scaffolds to read data from the cells but according to lead researcher Charles Lieber, the next step is to find a way of talking to the individual cells, to wire up tissue and communicate with it in the same way a biological system does.

A computer chip, containing a sample of nanoES tissue

Suffice it to say, if you can use a digital computer to read and write data to your bodys cells, there are some awesome applications. If you need a quick jolt of adrenaline, you would simply tap a button on your smartphone, which is directly connected to your sympathetic nervous system. You could augment your existing physiology with patches a patch of nanoelectric heart cells, for example, that integrates with your heart and reports back if you experience any problems. When we eventually put nanobots into our bloodstream, small pulses of electricity emitted by the cells could be used as guidance to damaged areas. In the case of blood vessels and other organs, the nanoelectric sensor network could detect if theres inflammation, blockage, or tumors.

Realistically, though, were a long way away from such applications. In the short term, though, these cyborg tissues could be used to create very accurate organs-on-a-chip lab-grown human organs that are encased within computer chips and then used to test drugs or substance toxicity, without harming a single bunny or bonobo.

Read: Nanotech: will it kill us all?, and Stanfords wireless, implantable Innerspace medical device

Research paper: doi:10.1038/nmat3404 (paywalled)

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Harvard creates cyborg flesh that’s half man, half machine

36893187 story Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday August 29, @08:21PM from the getting-wired dept. MrSeb writes "Bioengineers at Harvard University have created the first examples of cyborg tissue: Neurons, heart cells, muscle, and blood vessels that are interwoven by nanowires and transistors. These cyborg tissues are half living cells, half electronics. As far as the cells are concerned, they're just normal cells that behave normally but the electronic side actually acts as a sensor network, allowing a computer to interface directly with the cells. In the case of cyborg heart tissue, the researchers have already used the embedded nanowires to measure the contractions (heart rate) of the cells. So far, the researchers have only used the nanoelectric scaffolds to read data from the cells but according to lead researcher Charles Lieber, the next step is to find a way of talking to the individual cells, to 'wire up tissue and communicate with it in the same way a biological system does.' Suffice it to say, if you can use a digital computer to read and write data to your body's cells, there are some awesome applications." You may like to read: Post

Nasrudin walked into a teahouse and declaimed, "The moon is more useful than the sun." "Why?", he was asked. "Because at night we need the light more."

Working...

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Harvard Creates Cyborg Tissues

Old hat cybernetics: Locutus as featured in 'Star Trek: First Contact.' [Credit: Paramount Pictures]Weve just gotten to grafting an anatomically correct robotic arm on to a human, but clearly that wasn't enough: Harvard University researchers have already created a real piece of cyborg tissue. The researchers developed the first truly cybernetic piece of living tissue by combining nanowires with lab-grown flesh into indistinguishable mesh.

The researchers say that this is the first time they have been able to completely integrate electronics into a biological system. According to New Scientist, the Harvard scientists want to improve the technology so that it becomes impossible to determine where the organic tissue ends and the electronics begin.

Are you creeped out yet?

The team of Harvard scientists first developed a biology-sensing network of nanoscale electrodes and nanowires held together by a mesh of organic polymers. Once assembled, the scientists dissolved the organic components, leaving a porous and flexible network of electronics.

From there, the scientists seeded several of their nanoscale meshes with cells from neurons, the heart, muscles, and blood vessels, creating different pieces of cyborg tissue.

The greatest obstacle to developing cyborg tissue involves incorporating electrodes to monitor cell activity without interrupting or damaging them. Harvards new process, however, uses a built-in nano-sized sensor network that monitors the cells without interfering with their normal functions.

With their cybernetic tissues, the researchers were able to measure the changes in heart and nerve cells when using cardio- or neuro-stimulating drugs, along with blood vessels change in PH levels in response to inflammation.

One of the near term uses of this technology could be in pharmaceutical industry, where chemists could more closely monitor the effects of drugs on certain organs. Potentially, though, this research could one day lead to the development of synthetic organs that we can control at will.

Are you ready for cybernetics? Leave a comment.

[Check out GeekTech for more news on hacks, gadgets, and all things geek. And follow along on Twitter and Facebook.]

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Scientists Develop Cyborg Tissue, Bring The Borg Closer to Reality

Biohackers, grinders, and people who strive to become cyborgs exist. The world of recently published “State of Mind” could be just around the corner.Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) August 27, 2012 At the beginning of the month The Verge uploaded a documentary on biohackers and grinders, which follows several individuals who attempt and succeed in connecting their bodies with technology. Wired Magazine ...

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Cyborg America is Prelude to a General “State of Mind”

A team of Harvard University have developed a cyborg tissue material that is a literal mesh of nanoscale electronics and cells, able to support cell growth while at the same time monitoring biological activities at the cellular level.

Among the team to device such a material are Bozhi Tian (one of Technology Review's 35 Innovators Under 35 this year); Harvard University chemist Charles Lieber; Daniel Kohane, director of the Laboratory for Biomaterials and Drug Delivery at Boston Children's Hospital; and Robert Langer, a chemical engineer and Institute Professor at MIT.

The above image depicts smarts cells: "Alginate (white), a seaweed-derived material used in conventional cell scaffolds, is deposited around nanoscale metal wires (false-colored in brown) to form a three-dimensional electronic scaffold."

The nanoelectronic scaffolds were made from a thin mesh of metal nanowires, either straight or kinked, dotted with tiny transistors that detect electrical activity. The researchers folded or rolled the mesh into a three-dimensional structure to simulate a piece of tissue or a blood vessel, respectively. The result is a scaffold that is both porous and flexible-not an easy feat for electronics.

The scaffold was then seeded with cells or merged with conventional biomaterials, such as collagen, into hybrid scaffolds.

According to Lieber, "These scaffolds are mechanically the softest electronic materials that have ever been made."

The team tested the cyborg scaffold's sensing capabilities in living cells; they grew neurons in the framework and successfully monitored their firing activity "in response to excitatory neurotransmitters." They also tracked changes in pH level on either side of a simplified blood vessel, and observed subtle differences in the way heart cells on one side of the tissue beat from heart cells on the other side.

Numerous pharmaceutical companies have already expressed interest in the technology, specifically with regards to the way such a medical advancement could identify the ways in which various drugs respond when localized in difference tissues. [TechnologyReview]

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Cyborg Tissue Acts as Smart Scaffolding at a Cellular Level [Biotechnology]

ScienceDaily (Aug. 26, 2012) Harvard scientists have, for the first, time created a type of "cyborg" tissue by embedding a three-dimensional network of functional, bio-compatible nanoscale wires into engineered human tissues.

As described in a paper published August 26 in Nature Materials, a multi-institutional research team led by Charles M. Lieber, the Mark Hyman, Jr. Professor of Chemistry at Harvard and Daniel Kohane, a Harvard Medical School professor in the Department of Anesthesia at Children's Hospital Boston developed a system for creating nanoscale "scaffolds" which could be seeded with cells which later grew into tissue.

Also contributing to the work were Robert Langer, from the Koch Institute at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Zhigang Suo, the Allen E. and Marilyn M. Puckett Professor of Mechanics and Materials at Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

"The current methods we have for monitoring or interacting with living systems are limited," said Lieber. "We can use electrodes to measure activity in cells or tissue, but that damages them. With this technology, for the first time, we can work at the same scale as the unit of biological system without interrupting it. Ultimately, this is about merging tissue with electronics in a way that it becomes difficult to determine where the tissue ends and the electronics begin."

The research addresses a concern that has long been associated with work on bioengineered tissue -- how to create systems capable of sensing chemical or electrical changes in the tissue after it has been grown and implanted. The system might also represent a solution to researchers' struggles in developing methods to directly stimulate engineered tissues and measure cellular reactions.

"In the body, the autonomic nervous system keeps track of pH, chemistry, oxygen and other factors, and triggers responses as needed," Kohane explained. "We need to be able to mimic the kind of intrinsic feedback loops the body has evolved in order to maintain fine control at the cellular and tissue level."

Using the autonomic nervous system as inspiration, Bozhi Tian, a former doctoral student under Lieber and former postdoctoral fellow in the Kohane and Langer labs, and collaborator Jia Liu worked in Lieber's lab at Harvard to build mesh-like networks of nanoscale silicon wires -- about 30 -- 80 nm in diameter -- shaped like flat planes or in a reticular conformation.

The process of building the networks, Lieber said, is similar to that used to etch microchips.

Beginning with a two-dimensional substrate, researchers laid out a mesh of organic polymer around nanoscale wires, which serve as the critical nanoscale sensing elements. Nanoscale electrodes, which connect the nanowire elements, were then built within the mesh to enable nanowire transistors to measure the activity in cells without damaging them. Once complete, the substrate was dissolved, leaving researchers with a net-like sponge or a mesh that can be folded or rolled into a host of three dimensional shapes.

Once complete, the networks were porous enough to allow the team to seed them with cells and encourage those cells to grow in 3D cultures.

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'Cyborg' tissues: Merging engineered human tissues with bio-compatible nanoscale wires

Former Strikeforce women's featherweight champion Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos (10-1 MMA, 4-0 SF) has made it clear she is not a Ronda Rousey (6-0 MMA, 4-0 SF) fan.

And while she would be more than happy to step into the cage with "Rowdy," especially after the current Strikeforce female bantamweight champion called her out, Santos has been medically advised against trying to make 135 pounds.

With that in mind, Santos said she's done talking about Rousey and any potential fight for the bantamweight title. If Rousey wants to prove her worth, Santos said, let her come back to 145 pounds to do it the same place she started her Strikeforce career.

"I get many questions about Ronda Rousey, and I would like to set the record straight for the last time, as I do not consider her much personally, much less as a fighter," Santos told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) through an interpreter. "She claims she is the champion and openly challenges me to fight at 135 pounds, which I find laughable. She competed in the Beijing Olympics at 154 pounds and fought at 145 pounds in MMA until she learned she would have to fight me and then dropped to 135 pounds.

"I have never fought below 145 pounds, and I am considered the pound-for-pound top woman fighter in the world. I have yet to lose a fight while holding the Strikeforce 145-pound title. My last fight was considered a no contest, but that has not changed the fact that I am the women's 145-pound champion."

Santos, who made her Strikeforce debut in April 2009, was stripped of the Strikeforce women's featherweight title one month after a post-fight drug test at "Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Masvidal" turned up positive for stanozolol metabolites in late 2011.

The California State Athletic Commission, which oversaw the event, suspended Santos for one year and fined her $2,500. Additionally, her first-round TKO of Hiroko Yamanaka was also overturned to a no-contest.

Rousey, who was 2-0 in Strikeforce's 145-pound division, dropped to 135 pounds earlier this year and promptly earned the promotion's female bantamweight title by submitting then-champion Miesha Tate. This past Saturday night, the former Olympic judoka defended the title by submitting former champion Sarah Kaufman in just 54 seconds.

Following the win, Rousey called out Santos and challenged her to come down to 135 pounds.

"I need to send out a challenge to Ms. Cyborg, there," Rousey said after her victory. "People want to see you have the first fair fight of your life. I'm the champ now. The champ doesn't go to you. You go to the champ. Come down to 135 and let's settle this."

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'Cyborg' done talking Rousey, says 'spoiled little girl' can come back to original weight

Ronda Rousey’s attempts to provoke a showdown with the former Strikerforce women’s featherweight champion Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos has been met with a curt reply, with the Brazilian rebuking “Rowdy’s” challenge. Ronda called Cyborg out shortly after her first round victory against Sarah Kaufmann to retain the 135 lb title last weekend, but Cyborg says Rousey has to step up to 145 if she wants a ...

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Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos Says Ronda Rousey Is Not Worth Her Breath

Bas Rutten, host of AXSTV's "Inside MMA", gave Strikeforce champion, Ronda Rousey, high praise for her opening move in her first title defense against former Strikeforce champion, Sarah Kaufman on August 18, 2012. Cris "Cyborg" Santos, next on Ronda's Strikeforce hit list, was not so complimentary. Ronda told Cyborg to cut weight to 135 or forget about fighting her.

Respect between champions seems to be missing

Kenny Rice, co-host of the show, shared a long email message from Cyborg to Ronda.

Cyborg reminded Ronda that she is addressing the number one, pound for pound female fighter in the world and ended by saying, "...I will not endanger my health to satisfy the rantings of a spoiled little girl".

I guess whatever banned substance Cyborg took doesn't appear on her list of things to avoid in order to live a long, happy and healthy life. Double standard?

In the message, Cyborg made it clear that even though her last fight, against Hiroko Yamanaka, was ruled a no contest, she still considers herself the women's 145 lbs. champion.

Cyborg is not impressed with Ronda's performance...and vice versa

Ronda responded with, "I have a whole line of girls waiting to fight me...She needs to fight me or she's pretty much done...She's not as awesome as she thinks she is...I've got other things to do. Come down to 135 or I don't have time for you." video

No doubt, cooler heads from the Zuffa team will help resolve this stand-off between the top two female MMA fighters in the world. No MMA fight fan is going to want to miss the Strikeforce war between Ronda and Cyborg. I bet that fight goes longer than one round.

Bas Rutten is "very impressed" with Ronda Rousey's striking

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Ronda Rousey to Cris 'Cyborg' Santos, 'Cut Down to 135 or I Don't Have Time for You': Fan's Look

By Mike Chiappetta - Senior Writer

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Aug 20, 2012 - In women's MMA, there's only one superfight that can be made: Ronda Rousey vs. Cris Cyborg. Grappling assassin vs. knockout queen. Former Olympian vs. recent drug cheat. It's a match made in promotional heaven, but it isn't without its early roadblocks. The two have already publicly sparred over whether a fight should take place at Rousey's current division of bantamweight, Cyborg's old stomping grounds at featherweight, or a catch weight number in between.

That's only one issue that will need to resolved. Another stems from Cyborg's recent suspension. Manager Darin Harvey has overseen Rousey's career from before her amateur days, and he says that if a fight between the two is officially proposed, he would request random drug testing to ensure a level playing field. But he's not talking just about VADA-style testing. On Monday's edition of The MMA Hour, Harvey said he'd go one step further and request hair follicle testing to ensure that Cyborg hasn't been using any drugs while on suspension.

Hair follicles capture drug molecules, and testing of the sample is able to detect drugs for up to three months after its original ingestion, according to drug testing experts.

Harvey said he would be willing to pay for the testing to ensure the costs would not dissuade participation.

"Ill tell you why," he said. "I believe this is not the first time she used steroids; it's only the first time shes been caught.

"I wasn't surprised," he continued. "People have speculated but you couldn't really prove it. Now, its been proven. This is my belief. Im not a doctor but I've been around athletes my whole life and I believe that when you take steroids, you alternate your body permanently. Maybe you lose some of the muscle mass, but a lot remains. So shes permanently altered her body. And I want everything to be to our advantage. She's been taking male hormones, and it's not only unethical, it's freaking dangerous, and you're endangering the lives of the athletes. She's coming in there basically with man-like strength or male hormones in her body, and she's endangering the lives of our athletes."

Harvey said the decision to request such testing wasn't a personal one, and that while he's made very critical comments about Cyborg in the past, that he has heard through mutual acquaintances that she's a very nice person.

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MMAFighting: Rousey camp has 'Cyborg' issues

For $299.99, you get this 5-piece modular keyboard from MadCatz the S.T.R.I.K.E. 7. The keyboard concept looks like it was completely taken from the Transformers movie.

The Madcatz Cyborg S.T.R.I.K.E. 7 comes with a full metal chassis, assembled from five interlocking hardware modules the main keyboard, palm rest, numeric keypad, a function strip and a V.E.N.O.M. touchscreen.

Check out the video below and see how it works:

This is the most complicated gaming keyboard weve ever seen. The Madcatz Cyborg S.T.R.I.K.E. 7 was released and ready for shipment (they got an online store) for a price tag of $299.99.

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Madcatz Cyborg S.T.R.I.K.E. 7 Gaming Keyboard

by Matt Erickson on Aug 19, 2012 at 3:50 am ET

Rousey (6-0 MMA, 4-0 SF) on Saturday defended her Strikeforce women's bantamweight title, and again did it with ease, getting former champ Sarah Kaufman (15-2 MMA, 6-2 SF) to tap to her signature armbar less than a minute into the first round in San Diego.

Rousey had been in a relatively new war of words with Santos even before the Kaufman fight. And now that she has cleared her latest hurdle, Rousey wasted no time setting her sights on the Brazilian.

The first problem is that Santos (10-1 MMA, 4-0 SF), the former Strikeforce featherweight titleholder, currently is suspended after testing positive for steroids following a 16-second win over Hiroko Yamanaka this past December. (The fight was overturned to a no contest.) The yearlong shutdown means a potential Rousey-Santos fight is at least four months away, provided Santos gets re-licensed with no delays.

And the second is that Santos has been less than thrilled about the prospect of dropping from 145 to 135, where Rousey now holds the title. That, Rousey said, is too bad.

"She was champion and I knew she was doping, but I couldn't prove it," Rousey said at Saturday's post-event news conference at the Valley View Casino Center. "That was how she wanted to become a champion. Now the situation is changed, and she was stripped of her title for good reason. Now she has to come to me I don't owe her anything. She needs to fight me more than I need to fight her. There are plenty of girls they all want to beat me up now. Who else is she going to fight, really? She needs to come to me."

Rousey called out Santos in her post-fight interview with Mauro Ranallo on the Showtime broadcast and is firm in her belief that the former champ should have to make the move to 135 if she wants the fight.

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker sounds like he would love to see a Rousey-Santos fight but knows it's a pipe dream until Santos' suspension is lifted.

"That's a fight we definitely have on the radar," Coker told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "Ronda clearly said she wants that fight to happen. But Cyborg is on suspension right now, and until she gets off we really don't have a fight. So when she gets off, we'll start having the conversation."

Coker also believes when the fight does happen, it's destined to become the new high-water mark for a Showtime MMA broadcast.

Continued here:

Strikeforce champ Ronda Rousey wants 'Cyborg' next, but adamant she drop to 135

After weeks of both of Strikeforce's top female fighters, Ronda Rousey and Cris Cyborg, taking shots at one another, tonight the official call-out took place.

Following Rousey's quick submission win over Sarah Kaufman, when being interviewed by Mauro Ranallo, Rousey immediately called out Cyborg.

Rousey said (h/t Mike Chiappetta, mmafighting.com), "I need to send out a challenge to Miss Cyborg out there. People want to see the first fair fight of your life. I'm the champ now. The champ doesn't go to you, you go to the champ. Come down to 135 and let's settle this."

Earlier this week, when reports suggested Cyborg wanted the fight at 145, Rousey stated on TSN Radio's The MMA Report with John Pollock (h/t Chiappetta, mmafighting.com) that to make the 135-pound weight cut Cyborg should, "Stop doping and lose weight."

The fight needs no hype at all. Rousey has looked simply unstoppable since hertransitionto MMA from judo. She's 6-0 with all her wins coming by first-round submission via her lethal armbar. But Rousey isn't the first dominate female in Strikeforce.

Before there was Rousey, there was Cris Cyborg. Cyborg is 10-1, with eight of her wins coming by way of knockout. She's one of the most powerful women ever to compete in MMA, and before her recent positive drug test, she was considered to best female fighter on theplanet.

Cyborg's year-long suspension will end sometime in December, and the potential of a bout between Rousey and Cyborg should have all MMA fansnot just fans of women's MMApumped for what could lie ahead.

Link:

Ronda Rousey Calls Out Cyborg After 54-Second Win over Sarah Kaufman

I sincerely hope that 145er, Hiroko Yamanaka, currently ranked first on the "Top 10" list of female MMA fighters, gets knocked out by Dutch kickboxer, Germaine de Randamie. I'd like it to happen even faster than the 16 seconds it took for Cris "Cyborg" Santos to finish her at Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Masvidal in December of 2011. That match was ruled no contest (NC) because Cyborg tested positive for banned substances.

Cyborg didn't need steroids to break the will of Yamanaka. She just needed 16 seconds to TKO the lanky fighter.

Sherdog has both Germaine and Yamanaka listed as 5'11".

Germaine's last visit to the Strikeforce cage ended in a loss by unanimous decision to Julia Budd. Here's the fight, Germaine de Randamie (2-2) vs Julia Budd (3-2) in June 2011 on video

Predicting Yamanaka vs de Randamie is a "don't blink" fight

Germaine has had a year and a half to practice and improve her ground game skills. Fans should expect to see some good technique demonstrated against Yamanaka--if the fight goes longer than a minute.

Veronica from Women's MMARoundUp interviewed Germaine in January of 2011. Germaine's accent sounds like a cross between Bas Rutten and Marloes Coenen.

Veronica asked Germaine (46-0 kickboxing record) how striking in MMA differs from striking in kickboxing. "We like boxing, finishing with a kick. You can not do it exactly the same as you do that in a stand up fight. You can throw combinations, but it can't be a combination of eight punches. You have to be careful for the takedown...somebody grabs your leg. You have to be careful...Now I train wrestling and jiu jitsu, and a different kind of stand up for boxing."

Women's 145 division

The second thing I'd like to see is Germaine drop to 135 after this fight and join the rest of the women building their skills and their fight experience at that level. Seems to me if you want to fight in the 145 division, then the best place right now is Invicta Fighting Championships.

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Fight Picks: Rousey Vs Kaufman, Tate Vs Kedzie, Yamanaka Vs De Randamie

The beef between Strikeforce bantamweight title holder "Rowdy" Ronda Rousey and Cris "Cyborg" Santos is well-documented, and after Cyborg's recent call out, Rousey was quick to respond.

"As long as she makes 135, I don't care if she's injecting horse semen into her eyeballs but thats the only way I feel it would be a fair fight," Rousey said on TSN Radio's The MMA Report with John Pollack (transcribed by MMA Fighting).

"Shes never had a fair fight in her life and I see how the prospect of that would scare the hell out of her and why she would insist at fighting heavier."

Santos, who has served nine months of a one-yearsuspension issued by the California State Athletic State Commission for testing positive for the steroidstanozolol, made it clear she would like to fight Rousey in her return fight at either 145 pounds or a catch weight of 140 pounds.

Rousey, a former Olympic bronze medalist in Judo, also stated that Cyborg could make bantamweight "easily" if she "cut out all the doping."

The current face of women's MMA also hinted that she would be open to a 140-pound catch weight bout...if she believed Cyborg was professional enough to make the 140-pound weight limit

"She has a history of coming in overweight to fights and I wouldn't doubt that if we agreed to some sort of catchweight at 140, shed show up at 145 anyway and be like 'ah whatever, fight or not.' Shes done this many times before. I don't owe her anything. She's completely defamed, and anything shes ever done is nothing because she is a big old cheater and she's been doping her whole life."

The 25-year-old champion's comments are a little off base here, as Cyborg has only missed weight once, when she faced Hitomi Akano at Strikeforce: Shamrock vs. Diaz in April 2009.

Santos weighed in at 151 pounds for a bout scheduled to take place at featherweight (145 pounds).

Although the Brazilian is a former Strikeforce champion in her own right, that doesn't make Rousey think she owes Cyborg anything.

Originally posted here:

Ronda Rousey to Cyborg: "Stop Doping, Lose the Weight" and Fight Me at 135

by John Morgan on Aug 16, 2012 at 3:25 pm ET

And while Rousey currently has Sarah Kaufman to contend with, the Strikeforce female bantamweight champion said she welcomes future fights with both Carano and Santos.

Of course, the motivation would be completely different. After all, Rousey considers herself a Carano fan. "Cyborg" is just somebody "Rowdy" would love to beat up.

"I would like to fight both of them," Rousey said on Thursday. "I would say I would equally like to fight both of them, but I strongly dislike Cris 'Cyborg,' whereas I really like Gina Carano. If I was to pick which one I would actually want to beat up, I would want to beat up Cris 'Cyborg' the most, whereas I would just want to win over Gina."

Both fights are more fantasy than fact right now. Carano hasn't competed since an August 2009 loss to Santos and has instead been focused on a budding film career. Still, many view the Strikeforce and EliteXC star as a sort of groundbreaker in the women's division after attracting mainstream attention during her three-year MMA run.

But there are always rumors that Carano could one day fight again, and Rousey said she would honored to oppose her.

"Gina is a cool chick," Rousey said. "I have so much respect for her."

Meanwhile, former Strikeforce female featherweight champion Santos tested positive for stanozolol metabolites following her December 2011 win over Hiroko Yamanaka. She was then stripped of the title and placed under suspension for one year.

Prior to "Cyborg's" suspension, MMA pundits and Strikeforce officials alike had already begun to consider the possibility of a Santos vs. Rousey affair. However, Rousey, who began her career at 145 pounds, has since dropped to bantamweight, where she promptly earned Strikeforce gold.

Santos has remained non-committal about a potential drop to 135 pounds to meet Rousey, and the two have since engaged in a very public war of words.

Read more:

Strikeforce champ Rousey welcomes Carano fight but gunning for 'Cyborg' grudge match