Remember this young lady? Sure you do. That is Miss Gina Carano (7-1), the former “face of women’s MMA” who decided to go on MMA hiatus after suffering her very first professional loss in Aug. 2009 against Cris “Cyborg” Santos (10-1).
Most of Carano’s fans have probably been waiting to hear her say something similar to what Brock Lesnar said after losing his title to Cain Velasquez last week when Joe Rogan asked him if he was going to learn from the loss and come back stronger.
“That’s what a champion does right?” said Lesnar.
Now whether Lesnar actually does it, we do not know yet, but at least he said it. As of yet, Carano has not given her fans any sort of hope of a return.
It would be really sad if she went out like that and never returned to MMA, never tried to improve upon her shortcomings, all because of one loss (albeit a vicious beatdown).
Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker was on Sherdog’s Savage Dog Show Friday and he feels that Carano is the type of competitor who would not let her MMA career end on that note. When asked if she will return in 2011, Coker said,
“I believe so. … I know Gina is not going to go out the way that it went down. Her whole thing now is just timing and scheduling. She’s got the movie coming out in April, I believe, and she’s got some more stuff on her plate. … I know, just like Cung [Le] or other people that have [been] part of the film business … they’re still a fighter by heart, believe me, and they have that desire to compete. I think Gina will be the same. It’s just a matter of time. I believe she will fight in 2011.”
Carano has a starring role in Steven Soderbergh’s soon-to-be-released film “Haywire” (formerly called “Knockout”). It’s an action/thriller in which Carano plays a black ops soldier named Malory Kane. It’s an all-star cast that includes Ewan MacGregor and Michael Douglas among others.
The bad thing is, the longer Carano stays out of the MMA game, the harder it will be to come back at an elite level. While she is off doing movies, these other women continue to train and get better.
And whether Coker genuinely is on to something here and Carano truly has that competitive drive that will cause her to return to fighting, or whether it’s just wishful thinking and Coker is hoping Strikeforce’s all-time biggest superstar will come back, remains to be seen.
Maybe she’s scared. Maybe she’s satisfied and comfortable in her new life and feels she has nothing left to prove. One thing is for sure though, now that Fedor Emelianenko has been dethroned and lost that invincible aura, Strikeforce needs all the star power they can get. Carano would fit the bill perfectly.
Maybe she’s scared?
Wow…come on man you really didn’t need to sink there did you?
Anyway when she comes back I don’t think it matters if she improves a great deal or improves at all after sitting out this long.
I’m sure Strikeforce’s plans for her will be similar to what they do with Cung Le.
Giving him an ocassional fight against a decent but not top shelf opponent to keep him semi-active.
Nothing wrong with that.
These tiyle fights get to be extremely overrated to me anyway.
All these girls who are getting better as you say should all thank Gina because if she never came on the MMA scence a few years back none of them would be fighting on television or getting any exposure at all right now.
There’s no denying that.
I didn’t say she was scared. I said maybe she’s scared. Read the next sentence…
“Maybe she’s satisfied and comfortable in her new life and feels she has nothing left to prove.”
Is there anything wrong with that statement?
You think it’s completely unrealistic that Carano could be scared to come back for fear of failure or fear of a 145 pound Cyborg that demolished her?
All I did was pose the questions which is all we can do until she talks about this herself.
RJB you have Gina carano poster all over your room don’t you.
Female MMA would be the same place it is right now in the US. There probably wouldn’t have been huge shows like there was with Gina in them, and no other stars would’ve ranked in as much money as she did. But let’s not pretend that women’s mma is some huge moneymaker with when compared to the rest of the sport right now.
edub if you think Showtime or CBS would’ve been broadcasting female mma if it weren’t for Gina Carano you’re not living in the real world.
Sarah Kaufman wouldn’t have had to complain about being on Challengers cards as opposed to major shows because she’d of never been on the Challengers series to begin with.
Look at Strikeforce’s ratings for their events since they’ve been on Showtime.
See which event is #1.
Carano’s one of the biggest money makers in the sport.
As far as your joke well I don’t think that BS deserves a legit reply.
1. I was making fun of you because Jack wrote one half jab about Gina (then immediately turned it into a legit statement), and you take such offense to it you spout a whole bunch of common knowlegde why Gina is the female saviour of MMA. I don’t care if you reply. I don’t know you or really care what you think is a joke
2. Carano is the biggest female money maker in MMA. I never said she wasn’t. There’s just no guarantee that Strikforce wouldn’t have picked up female MMA if Gina was never around. Sure that is one train of thought. But the other is SF picked it up (and continues to add quality female fighters while Gina is MIA…) because it is a niche that the UFC won’t use.
Gina Carano did great for herself in MMA, but there are plenty of other women who have done more for “womens MMA” than she did.