UFC President Dana White talked about a ton of things in the UFC Dublin pre-fight media scrum with some of it being really outlandish. White plans to meet with former women’s MMA chamipion Gina Carano (7-1) on Monday to try and ink a deal to bring her to the UFC after a 5 year hiatus away from the sport.
“Next week I have a meeting with her on Monday,” White said. “Pretty confident (we’ll sign her).”
Carano last fought against Cris Cyborg in 2009 and was battered into a first round TKO loss, which then lead Carano into the movie industry. Ironically, Cyborg against Rousey is the women’s MMA fight that fans want to see, but White has dismissed or downplayed that notion at every turn pointing mostly to the failed steroid test Cyborg experienced in 2011.
There are many people that have been critical of Carano getting an immediate title shot, but White has an excuse for that as well.
“She did a damn good job against Cyborg and Cyborg was a little jacked up on Mountain Dew in that fight,” White said. “She’s the one that started this whole women’s MMA craze and Ronda wants to fight her. Ronda wants this fight bad. Gina wants the fight bad, too.
“Is she going to be any less competitive than any of the other girls she’s fought? The last fight, look at Alexis Davis — Alexis Davis is awesome — 16 seconds. You think Carano’s going to be less competitive than that? Six seconds? The fight before that with (Sara) McMann was a minute — you think Gina’s going to be less competitive than a minute or 16 seconds?”
Rousey just fought at UFC 175 and is recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery, so she will likely return near the end of 2014. The December cards usually feature the UFC’s most popular champions and biggest fights, and it would also give Carano about five months to ready herself to return to the cage if she decides to come back to MMA.