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The first lady of MMA is back. During its broadcast on Showtime Saturday night, Strikeforce announced that Gina Carano has finally signed with the promotion and will return on Aug. 15.

Carano will fight Cris Cyborg in the most anticipated women's fight ever.

Although Kimbo Slice showed on Saturday night that he has no business in a mixed martial arts cage, I hope that doesn't mean the end of EliteXC on CBS. The four televised undercard fights demonstrated that MMA does belong on network television.

Benji Radach came out swinging against Murilo "Ninja" Rua and earned a TKO halfway through the second round. Radach has been around a while, but that was the best win of his career. I loved the way he controlled the tempo.

Gina Carano showed, indisputably, that she's a real fighter with a dominant unanimous decision over Kelly Kobold. If EliteXC has another show on CBS, I hope Carano vs. Cris Cyborg is the main event.

Gina Carano, the face of women's mixed martial arts, bashed in the face of Kelly Kobold tonight, winning an entertaining decision on tonight's EliteXC: Heat card.

Carano landed the first strike of the fight with an overhand right just seconds into the first round. After that Kobold moved to the inside and the first round didn't see a lot of action, but Carano did open up a cut on Kobold's face and clearly won the round.

The second round was closer, with both fighters landing some strikes, Carano starting to use her feet and knees, and Kobold landing a takedown in the closing seconds.

In the third round Carano established her dominance, attempting a submission with a standing rear-naked choke and landing multiple kicks to Kobold's head. Although Carano wasn't able to finish, it was clear by the end that she would win the decision.

We mentioned yesterday that Gina Carano had to go nude to make weight for tonight's fight against Kelly Kobold on EliteXC: Heat, and now we have the visual evidence.

It's not extremely unusual for a fighter to have to take off all of his or her clothes and be shielded from the crowd with towels to make weight; I've seen it several times with boxers, including Oscar De La Hoya. But it is particularly noteworthy with Carano, because she missed weight for her last fight and has vowed in recent weeks that it wouldn't happen again this time.

It almost did. Carano was 1.75 pounds over the 141-pound limit the first time she stepped on the scale, with her clothes on, and was even over the limit the second time she stepped on the scale, naked. It's not clear what she did the third time that finally did the trick, but she did make weight and the fight will go on tonight.

A video of Carano's weigh-in is below.

It's the fight card that could determine the future of EliteXC and maybe even the future of mixed martial arts on network television. EliteXC: Heat is just a day away, and although the main event is Kimbo Slice trying to knock out a washed-up legend, I'll be tuning in more for the four undercard matches. Here are the details:

What: EliteXC: Heat

Who: In addition to the Kimbo vs. Ken Shamrock main event, the card also features Gina Carano vs. Kelly Kobold, Andrei Arlovski vs. Roy Nelson, Jake Shields vs. Paul Daley and Murilo "Ninja" Rua vs. Benji Radach.

When: Saturday, 9 p.m. ET

Where: Bank Atlantic Center, Sunrise, Florida

How: Watch for free on CBS

Predictions after the jump.

In my time covering mixed martial arts, I've probably asked a couple dozen fighters how much they weigh. It's a question I ask fairly often because it provides a yardstick for where fighters are in their preparation for their next fight.

I've never had a fighter hesitate to answer, because they all know it's a relevant question. Just to cite a few recent examples, Duane Ludwig told me how much he weighs. Thiago Alves told me how much he weighs. Randy Couture told me how much he weighs. Frank Trigg told me how much he weighs. Miguel Torres told me how much he weighs. None of them hesitated or acted like it was a rude question.

The first fighter who ever refused to answer was Gina Carano, whom I asked last week. Here's the audio (via Steve Cofield) of me asking Carano how much she weighs, and of Carano refusing to answer:

Notice that Carano's opponent, Kelly Kobold, volunteered her weight (160 pounds) without me asking her. Kobold knows that it's a completely legitimate issue, as has every other fighter I've ever asked.

So why won't Carano answer? I don't know, but I sure hope she's telling the truth when she says she's going to make weight on Friday for her fight on Saturday. If she misses weight again this week, it will call into question whether she's ever going to take her sport seriously.

Will EilteXC have any competitive fights on Saturday night? Looking at the betting odds, you get the feeling that we're in for a bunch of lopsided contests.

We've previously noted that Kimbo Slice is a heavy favorite over Ken Shamrock in the main event of EliteXC: Heat, and now Bodog has released the odds for the other four fights on the CBS card. All four fights have one significant favorite and one long-shot underdog.

The last time Gina Carano fought for EliteXC, she showed up to the weigh-in at 144.5 pounds, four and a half over the limit.

The fight went on anyway and Carano won, but she has been dogged by questions about her dedication. And when I asked her today about her weight, it was clear that she's sick of the question.

"I'm going to weigh 140 pounds next Friday," Carano told me when I asked how much weight she still had to cut. "How much I weigh right now I'd rather keep to myself because I don't want to answer any more questions about it."

Carano said she has hired a nutritionist and added, "I've got really high expectations for this weigh-in."

Gina Carano spoke this week at a public workout to promote her October 4 fight with Kelly Kobold, and MMA Rated was there:

"It's not that I'm a completely violent person and I like to hurt people. Fighting is so much more than just one person kicking the other's butt. It's so much more than that. It's the lifestyle and the training and the people."

Of Kobold, Carano said, "I know she's coming to fight. I've heard plenty of interviews of her talking."

Steve Cofield notes that because there are so few opportunities for female fighters, Carano may have an even greater stake in seeing EliteXC survive than its biggest star, Kimbo Slice.

Speaking of Kimbo, the MMA Rated video of his appearance at the same event is after the jump.