A “super” fight between UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey and women’s MMA pioneer Gina Carano has felt like an awkward inevitability for a long while now.
“Awkward” because Carano hasn’t fought since 2009, when she suffered a brutally lops…
A “super” fight between UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey and women’s MMA pioneer Gina Carano has felt like an awkward inevitability for a long while now.
“Awkward” because Carano hasn’t fought since 2009, when she suffered a brutally lopsided knockout loss to Cris “Cyborg” Justino (at the time, Cris “Cyborg” Santos).
“Inevitable” because the UFC has been so desperate for star power, pay-per-view buys and opponents for Rousey.
Well, according to UFC President Dana White, who spoke to the assembled media in Dublin, Ireland, ahead of UFC Fight Night 46, the UFC is set to seal a deal with Carano in the next few days, and he already has a date in mind for a Rousey vs. Carano title fight. White and UFC brass are set to meet with Carano’s representatives this coming Monday to finalize a deal.
While fans and media are widely panning the fight, per MMAJunkie.com’s Steven Marrocco, White was quick to wave off such claims, comparing Rousey’s desire to fight Carano to last year’s Georges St-Pierre vs. Nick Diaz welterweight title fight. Worth noting, of course, is that the St-Pierre vs. Diaz matchup was thoroughly criticized as well.
According to Marrocco, White said Rousey vs. Carano was planned for December but not for the UFC’s year-end card, UFC 182. That makes UFC 181, which is set for December 6, the likely landing spot.
The odd woman out in this situation is Cat Zingano. She was lined up for a title fight with Rousey following her upset win of Miesha Tate at last year’s The Ultimate Fighter 17 Finale. However, she was forced to withdraw well in advance following a knee injury.
Zingano is slated to face Amanda Nunes at UFC 178 in what many assumed to be a title eliminator for her, but a winter fight between Rousey and Carano would almost certainly take that possibility away.
UFC 181 is booked for the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. No other fights are currently scheduled for the event, so keep an eye on Bleacher Report in the coming weeks for more news on the card as it breaks.
(It’s Ireland. You gotta have at least one pikey-fight. Screen-cap via MMAMania; be sure to come back to CagePotato tomorrow 3 p.m. ET/noon PT for our liveblog of UFC Fight Night Dublin: McGregor vs. Brandao.)
Some must-see highlights from our friends around the Internet…
(It’s Ireland. You gotta have at least one pikey-fight. Screen-cap via MMAMania; be sure to come back to CagePotato tomorrow 3 p.m. ET/noon PT for our liveblog of UFC Fight Night Dublin: McGregor vs. Brandao.)
Some must-see highlights from our friends around the Internet…
Gina Carano isn’t a fighter. She hasn’t been a fighter since 2010. And she lost her last fight.
If you’re like me, your last memory of Gina Carano as a mixed martial artist was hoping referee Josh Rosenthal would have the heart to stop Cris Cyborg from…
Gina Carano isn’t a fighter. She hasn’t been a fighter since 2010. And she lost her last fight.
If you’re like me, your last memory of Gina Carano as a mixed martial artist was hoping referee Josh Rosenthal would have the heart to stop Cris Cyborg from beating her half to death.
This was five years ago, or nearly so, and Carano was undefeated going into the fight. She was considered an underdog to Justino (then Santos), but only slightly so.
That seems so very silly now, doesn’t it? Hindsight is one of the more powerful tools in the human arsenal, but it seems unfathomable that Carano was given a better-than-remote betting chance of beating Cyborg.
The fight played out exactly as it should have, with Cyborg mauling Carano as though she were a bear toying with its food. Rosenthal finally stepped in, and Carano heaved a sigh of relief. The rest of the world offered a prayer of thanks for her health and well-being. Cyborg was the new Strikeforce champion.
Carano? She never stepped in the cage again. She went to Hollywood as a budding action star. She made some action movies, and people made fun of her acting abilities, and she never quite developed the Hollywood career she wanted, so now she’s toying with the idea of a return to the cage.
This time, it would be in the UFC, and it would be a big-money fight against Ronda Rousey, who is also a terrifying force of nature in her own right.
Carano hasn’t competed since 2009. We don’t even know if she’s kept up her training over the past five years, though it is hard to imagine her giving it up completely. But still…five years is a very long time. Ring/cage rust is a very real thing, and if fighters who are away for 12 to 15 months are badly affected, you can bet that more than 60 months away from professional cagefighting will be a difficult thing to overcome, if not impossible.
There are actual deserving challengers on the roster.
Remember Cat Zingano? She beat Miesha Tate to earn a shot at Rousey‘s title back in 2013. But then she had the temerity to injure herself in training, and the UFC nearly injured itself in its haste to replace Zingano with the more marketable Tate. And then Zingano suffered immense personal tragedy that kept her on the shelf even longer, which gave the UFC time to cast its eyes westward, toward Hollywood and Carano and beauty and fame and a million pay-per-view buys.
But Zingano is still here. She lost that title shot, of course, and now she has to fight at UFC 178 to earn it again. She may not earn it there, either, because there are Carano and Holly Holm, both of whom are likely ahead of Zingano in the pecking order.
Never mind that the only thing Zingano did to lose her original title shot was get injured and then go through unspeakable tragedy; she was out of the public eye for a year, and so she is shifted down the line, about to be bypassed by someone who hasn’t competed in five years (and who lost her last fight).
Zingano is still more deserving than Carano. Holly Holm, despite never facing anything resembling top competition, is more deserving. Tate has lost twice to Rousey, and she’s still more deserving. Every single fighter on the UFC women’s bantamweight roster is more deserving, regardless of placement in the rankings.
This isn’t about credibility; it’s about looks and marketability.
Of course it is. There is literally zero ways to explain this one, other than “these are two gorgeous women and they’re both actresses and they’re both super famous and it’s going to make a lot of money.” Watching Dana White trying to explain his reasoning for giving Carano an immediate title shot—and watching him try to do so with a straight face—is one of the funnier things happening in mixed martial arts right now.
But because White is a promoter, he’s doing his best. Even if his best makes him look silly.
But…
This is the most marketable fight the UFC can currently make.
There is no doubt that Rousey vs. Carano is the biggest fight the UFC has. Nothing else comes close, except perhaps Johny Hendricks defending his championship against a returning Georges St-Pierre, and I’m not sure that fight will ever happen.
Promoted properly, Rousey vs. Carano will do more than one million pay-per-view buys. Guaranteed.
It won’t approach UFC 100 levels, but it could be the second-biggest fight in company history. At the end of the day, the UFC is an entertainment company first, and it must worry about its profits. The UFC doesn’t exist for the betterment of mixed martial arts; it exists because it is acutely aware of the bottom line.
The UFC will do whatever it can to increase that bottom line, even if it means pitting an actress who has not competed in a fight (and lost her last fight; we can’t forget that little nugget, either) in five years against the most dominant champion on its roster.
From a sporting perspective, it is ludicrous that Cyborg remains on the sidelines, while Carano—whom she badly beat five years ago—waltzes back into the UFC and gets an immediate title shot. It’s silly that Carano will bypass Zingano and Holm and everyone else on the roster. It makes zero sense.
But it makes dollars. Lots of them. Which is why, at the end of the day, you will see the fight happen. And though it seems counterintuitive, fights like this one are good for the sport. They extend the reach of the UFC. They make your friends tune in when they normally would bypass watching altogether. They stand out from the endless, ceaseless pack of similar UFC cards the UFC puts on these days.
They feel important. Which is why we watch, and it’s why you’ll be watching even if you say you won’t.
Big fights are a big deal, and this is the biggest fight the UFC can make.
Updates from Monday, July 14
Bleacher Report lead MMA writer Jeremy Botter reports on some of the conflicts in the way of Gina Carano’s potential move to the UFC:
Original Text
Expect to see Gina Carano added to the UFC’s roster by the end of next wee…
Updates from Monday, July 14
Bleacher Report lead MMA writer Jeremy Botter reports on some of the conflicts in the way of Gina Carano’s potential move to the UFC:
Original Text
Expect to see Gina Carano added to the UFC’s roster by the end of next week.
According to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, UFC President Dana White and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta will meet with Carano next week in Los Angeles, and a deal is expected to be made on the spot. Add this to the UFC’s recent signing of undefeated striking phenom Holly Holm, and it’s clear that the organization is committed to shining a spotlight on women’s MMA moving forward.
“One down, one to go,” White told ESPN. “I’m going to meet with Gina next week and get that f—ing thing done. Next week, man. It’s just a matter of me and Lorenzo going to jump on a plane to Los Angeles, get in a room with her and her lawyer and get this thing done.”
Carano (7-1) brought women’s MMA to the masses during her undefeated run from June 2006 to October 2008. She was pretty, personable and could not be matched inside the cage.
However, she ended her mixed martial arts career on a sour note, losing in dramatic first-round TKO fashion to Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino in August 2009 before calling it quits to pursue an acting career.
With the ever-changing MMA landscape and the dominance of current UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, however, Carano’s name is back in the mix. The former Strikeforce standout hasn’t fought in five years, but UFC 183: Rousey vs. Carano would be an all-but-guaranteed smash hit at the box office.
Competitively, the fight—on paper at least—leaves plenty to be desired, but the buildup would be huge, the coverage would be extensive and the UFC could potentially break out of its recent pay-per-view funk with this blockbuster matchup.
Rousey recently told the media (h/t International Business Times) that a fight with Carano was always her dream, and now that dream appears a step closer to becoming reality.
“Whether she (Carano) ever wants (to fight) again or not is entirely up to her, but ever since that day when I had that first taste of women’s MMA, she’s the fight I wanted,” Rousey said.
Stay tuned to Bleacher Report as Gina Carano’s situation continues to develop.
Many of you newer readers might not know that, long before I was ever a dumb shit douchebag writer hack here, I was just a dumb shit douchebag commenter. You know, in the pre-Facebook times. The long-long ago, as it’s called. In any case, one of my favorite features of the ‘Tato back in the day was their/our caption contests, which have waned off a bit in recent years. So, being that this is the soon-to-be celebrated annually #WeekofDanga, I figured that I might as well revive an old relic as a way to give back to you, our fiercely-loyal-except-when-you-aren’t readers.
Unfortunately, I don’t have much to offer in the way of MMA memorabilia. I do, however, have an extra copy of In the Blood (read our review here) on DVD collecting dust in my room. It’s still in the plastic and everything. So if it’s a physical copy of the movie in which Gina Carano has her underwear ripped off while handcuffed that you’re seeking, join me after the jump to find out how you can win one fo’ free.
Many of you newer readers might not know that, long before I was ever a dumb shit douchebag writer hack here, I was just a dumb shit douchebag commenter. You know, in the pre-Facebook times. The long-long ago, as it’s called. In any case, one of my favorite features of the ‘Tato back in the day was their/our caption contests, which have waned off a bit in recent years. So, being that this is the soon-to-be celebrated annually #WeekofDanga, I figured that I might as well revive an old relic as a way to give back to you, our fiercely-loyal-except-when-you-aren’t readers.
Unfortunately, I don’t have much to offer in the way of MMA memorabilia. I do, however, have an extra copy of In the Blood (read our review here) on DVD collecting dust in my room. It’s still in the plastic and everything. So if it’s a physical copy of the movie in which Gina Carano has her underwear ripped off while handcuffed that you’re seeking, join me after the jump to find out how you can win one fo’ free.
Yep, that’s TUF 1 winner and former UFC light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin looking…fit, while hanging out backstage at a UFC charity event yesterday. The photo was snapped by none other than fellow TUFer/former light heavyweight champ Rashad Evans, along with the caption:
I’m so excited for the return of Forrest Griffin! He looked ripped at the pre,pre, pre weigh-ins today! His abs were so defined!
Not bad, Suga, but I think you Taters can do better. Caption this photo however you see fit, using as many attempts at humor as you can, and I’ll select a winner for the In the Blood DVD on Monday. But again, this is the #WeekofDanga, so feel free to be as brutal and/or dark with your captions as humanly possible. And if our comment section goes down, tweet your captions at either CagePotato or myself with the hashtag #WeekofDanga.
Have I not mentioned that it’s the #WeekofDanga yet? Because it’s kind of a big deal. Good luck, you guys!
In the world of MMA, the women’s division is ruled by Ronda Rousey.
She’s snatched the position created by Gina Carano years ago and ran with it into stardom. Even though Carano has been away from the sport for years, she’s still a name th…
In the world of MMA, the women’s division is ruled by Ronda Rousey.
She’s snatched the position created by Gina Carano years ago and ran with it into stardom. Even though Carano has been away from the sport for years, she’s still a name that draws attention when mentioned. As talks between Carano and the UFC seem to have stalled, according to Mike Chiappetta of Fox Sports, one must ask if her return is not only in her best interests but those of women’s MMA as a whole.
Gina Carano made history when she took to the Strikeforce hexagon and became, along with Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino, the first women’s main event of a major MMA card. Even though she was toppled in brutal fashion by Cyborg, that one moment led to Carano‘s leap into the movie industry.
At the same time, it pulled her out of the cage for what would be a five-year hiatus. In those five years, women’s mixed martial arts has grown by leaps and bounds.
UFC President Dana White softened his hardline stance against letting women compete in the Octagon. Many attribute that change of heart due to the rise of Rousey. How could you blame him? Rousey immediately become one of the sport’s most important stars and is branching out into other ventures just as Carano did before her.
Comparisons between the two quickly became the norm for fans and talking heads alike. The momentum for a Rousey vs. Carano fight has picked up in 2014. White has even gone on record to say that Carano“deserves” a shot at Rousey. This is Dana White doing the job that he’s become known for doing. While both individuals are trailblazers for women in combat sports, it’s clear where the overall value for this fight lies.
A few things are certain when addressing this potential contest.
First, Rousey, Carano and the UFC would make enormous amounts of money on what would most likely be the biggest women’s fight in the sport’s history. If this bout was made in 2014, there would be a shot for it to be one of the most watched of the year as well. Rousey‘s promotional debut at UFC 157 against Liz Carmouche had one of the highest pay-per-view buyrates of 2013.
Even though her second title defense of the year was a co-main event against Miesha Tate on UFC 168, that card ended up being the best-selling event of 2013 (although the show also featured the rematch of Chris Weidman and Anderson Silva). A fight between Carano and Rousey would be promoted so well that it would easily surpass UFC 157 if not come close to the seven-figure buyrate of UFC 168.
The second certainty of this bout is that Carano would be a major underdog to Rousey. Whether this fight took place at 135 or 145, Gina would be facing an individual that would be the best athlete she’s ever fought. Rousey has faced tougher matchups while enduring a higher level of scrutiny than Carano ever dealt with in her career.
Asking Gina to return after so many years away from the sport to face the pound-for-pound queen of women’s mixed martial arts would be asking way too much, especially if the expectations are for her to be competitive. Many expect Rousey to dispatch of Carano quite easily.
“I really feel that it’s just kind of a joke,” former title challenger Tate stated on MMAjunkie radio. “It really is. Gina was a great fighter, and she’s a beautiful woman. Ronda is a great fighter, and she’s an attractive girl. But to say that Gina should be able to come in after five years of nothing and take on arguably the best female fighter ever? Come on.”
With top fighters such as Holly Holm and Cristiane Justino waiting in the wings, it’s clear why the UFC is making a push to obtain Carano‘s services. As debates rage as to whether or not mixed martial arts is a sport or entertainment, this conversation will stand as a point for those who believe it is clear entertainment. Rousey vs. Carano does have appeal, but that demand comes in the form of dollar figures, not sporting value.
A “super” fight between UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey and women’s MMA pioneer Gina Carano has felt like an awkward inevitability for a long while now.
