In the biggest, most highly anticipated fight in the history of women's mixed martial arts, Cris Cyborg Santos registered a brutal first-round TKO over Gina Carano before a raucous crowd of 13,524 at HP Pavilion Saturday.

For as long as it lasted, the Cyborg-Carano fight was as exciting as it gets. By winning, Cyborg (8-1), of Curitiba, Brazil, earned the first-ever Strikeforce Female 145-pound Championship. Carano, of Las Vegas, fell to 7-1.

The historic, non-stop action match between the two most talented female fighters in the world was stopped by referee Josh Rosenthal at 4:59, a split second before the horn sounded to end the opening round of a scheduled five-round fight.

When the thrilling proceedings were halted, Cyborg was on top of Carano and had delivered approximately 12 clubbing punches with both hands to Carano's head.

"I just want to thank the fans for all the support I have always received, and to Gina for giving me this opportunity,'' said a gracious but ecstatic Cyborg, who is a member of Brazil's famed Chute Boxe fight squad.

Carano, an underdog coming into the fight but clearly the crowd favorite, entered the ring to a deafening roar and the fans' reaction to her introduction was deafening.

The incredibly popular Carano gave as much as she took for the most part, but Cyborg proved just a bit too strong for Carano, who was fighting for the first time in 8 months.

In other televised action, Gegard Mousasi (29-2-1) won his 13 straight in his United States debut and captured the Strikeforce light heavyweight title by destroying defending champion Renato "Babalu" Sobral (35-9), at 1:00 of the first-round (TKO, strikes). Gilbert "El Nino" Melendez (16-2) avenged one of his two losses and retained the Strikeforce interim lightweight belt with a convincing third-round TKO (punches) over Mitsuhiro Ishida (18-6-1) of Japan. Brazil's Fabricio Werdum (12-4-1) moved closer to a possible world title fight against Fedor Emelianenko with a first-round submission (guillotine) over Mike Kyle (12-7-1).

In the second of three Strikeforce world title fights, Mousasi threw a kick but Sobral blocked it and wound up on the ground in a scramble. Mousasi, who was in top position when they hit the ground, quickly unleashed a barrage of punches and that was that. The loss snapped Sobral's five-fight winning streak.

"I am very happy,'' Mousasi said. "I am willing to fight anybody.''

Melendez mostly dominated. "The key to this fight was patience and I was patient tonight,'' he said. "I know what kind of fighter Ishida was, and I knew what I had to do. It's great to avenge a loss. But I am a different fighter than before.''

In the opening bout of the telecast, Werdum overcame some early adversity to pull out an impressive win. "I trained hard and am happy with the result,'' said Werdum.

A two-time Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world champion who owns a victory over current Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem, Werdum would not be opposed to an immediate crack at Fedor.

Werdum has already defeated one of the Emelianenko brothers. On Nov. 12, 2006, he registered an impressive first round submission (arm triangle choke) win over two-time Russian National Sambo champion, Aleksander Emelianenko, the brother of Fedor.

"I would be very happy if Strikeforce wanted to make a fight between Fedor and myself. Fedor is the best in the world and this world be a fantastic opportunity.''

Saturday's event will re-air on Showtime...