Tag: Gina Carano

Miesha Tate: ‘I’d Love to Fight Gina [Carano]’

UFC on Fox 11 winner Miesha Tate already has a list of opponents in mind for her next fight following a victory over fellow former UFC women’s bantamweight title challenger Liz Carmouche on Saturday night.
At the post-fight press conference, “Cupc…

UFC on Fox 11 winner Miesha Tate already has a list of opponents in mind for her next fight following a victory over fellow former UFC women’s bantamweight title challenger Liz Carmouche on Saturday night.

At the post-fight press conference, “Cupcake” respectfully listed Sarah Kaufman, Holly Holm and Gina Carano as those whom she’d like to square off with next inside the Octagon, per Bloody Elbow.

“I think Sarah Kaufman would be a good fight. I lost that one in Strikeforce. How about Holly Holm? She wants to climb her way to the top, I’d be a great starting point.” When asked if she’d be interested in fighting Gina Carano, Tate responded, “I’d like it. I’ll take that fight all day long, for sure. I mean, I’ll fight anybody, but I’d love to fight Gina.”

While Tate is just 2-3 in her past five contests, two of those losses were to UFC women’s bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey.

According to the UFC’s official rankings (prior to the win over Carmouche), Tate was still the No. 3 female 135-pound fighter in the world.  

Carano, who hasn’t fought since August 2009, for weeks had been rumored to sign with the UFC to set up a superfight with Rousey, but those rumors have died out since Rousey was booked to fight Alexis Davis at UFC 175 on July 5. 

A week-and-a-half ago, Tate told Fox Sports it would be unfair to give Carano a title shot right off the bat, given her extended layoff from the fight game.

The interview was also the first time she expressed an interest in a bout with Carano. 

Meanwhile, Holm, a three-division boxing champion with a 33-2-3 record in the ring, is 7-0 as a professional mixed martial artist and was negotiating with the UFC late last year. 

However, it appears UFC President Dana White wasn’t interested in starting Holm off with a six-figure salary, so it remains to be seen what the future holds for the 32-year-old striker. 

Finally, Tate and Kaufman traded leather under the Strikeforce banner back in May 2009, with Kaufman getting her hand raised after a hard-fought decision.

With no clear title contenders past Davis and Cat Zingano, who makes the most sense for Tate to throw down with next inside the Octagon? 

 

John Heinis is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA editor for eDraft.com.

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Dana White: I’m Very Confident Gina Carano Is on Her Way Back

In order for the UFC to attract Gina Carano away from her ultra-successful Hollywood career, it’s going to have to pull all the right strings.
First off, Carano needs to be compensated heavily. As one of the most popular names in the history of women’s…

In order for the UFC to attract Gina Carano away from her ultra-successful Hollywood career, it’s going to have to pull all the right strings.

First off, Carano needs to be compensated heavily. As one of the most popular names in the history of women’s mixed martial arts, the 31-year-old carries weight that even the most dangerous fighters in the world don’t possess.

So in that instance, her contract needs to be staggering.

Secondly, the UFC and Carano need to come to an agreement as to what she’ll be able to do in a short period of time. It’s highly unlikely that the former featherweight wants to climb the divisional rung, meaning an immediate title shot opposite undefeated champion Ronda Rousey would be the most plausible move.

But despite a variety of problems that could prolong a signing, UFC president Dana White is more than convinced that the movie star will make a fairly quick transition back to the fight game.

“Gina [Carano] and I had a good meeting,” said White in an interview with FOX Sports following Wednesday’s The Ultimate Fighter Nations Finale (h/t MMA Underground). “I’m very confident that she does want to come back and she does want to fight.”

White went on to say that no deal has been made thus far, but one could be finalized soon.

In any case, this is fantastic news for fight fans of any kind. Carano is a dynamic superstar who encompasses a readied skill set capable of giving Rousey a run for her money.

Assuming Carano does in fact want to get back into the sport that launched her career, there’s no better place than the budding UFC women’s bantamweight crop heap.

 

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UFC Does Right with Ronda Rousey vs. Alexis Davis, but Gina Carano Still Lurks

After weeks of hand wringing and head scratching over the identity of Ronda Rousey’s next opponent, it turned out the answer was right under our noses all along.
Now that we know, we can all add a few more months to our Gina Carano Doomsday Clock…

After weeks of hand wringing and head scratching over the identity of Ronda Rousey’s next opponent, it turned out the answer was right under our noses all along.

Now that we know, we can all add a few more months to our Gina Carano Doomsday Clocks.

At least for the time being, all talk of movie-star superfights and big-name free agents can be tabled, as UFC President Dana White announced on Friday that Rousey will defend her women’s bantamweight crown against Alexis Davis at UFC 175 on July 5.

Anybody else feel like they’ve been had?

It appears in retrospect that Carano just played-up widespread rumors she might be next for Rousey in order to publicize her new film as something besides the subject of perhaps the worst movie review of all time. In addition, all those flags we raised on behalf of Cyborg Justino and Holly Holm ultimately proved false.

Davis is up—maybe Davis was always going to be up—and you know what? It’s the right move.

With Cat Zingano still recuperating, she’s the obvious in-house choice. The 29-year-old Canadian has won eight of her last nine fights, including three straight in the Octagon, and in a division the fight company seems dead set on promoting as Ronda Rousey and Everyone Else, that’s as good as it gets.

Davis vs. Rousey gives the UFC a nice fallback main event for its midsummer pay-per-view, just in case Chris Weidman needs more time to return from dueling knee surgeries. It’ll also provide a nice, competitive tonic to make the silliness of Chael Sonnen vs. Wanderlei Silva go down easier.

Maybe it feels a little anticlimactic after all those wild stories we told ourselves, but if nothing else, Davis is a challenger we can all agree on.

She won’t beat the champion—this one has first-round armbar written all over it—but at least she fights in the UFC. At least she’s made 135 pounds. At least we can craft a pretty succinct and convincing case for her as a worthy No. 1 contender.

None of those things were true of Carano, the still-retired former non-champion who may be guilty of nothing in this besides picking an extremely advantageous time to start returning our calls.

And yet it still feels like there was an awful lot of smoke circling a proposed Carano-Rousey squash match for it all to come to nothing. There’s a sense that we haven’t heard the last of this nonsense.

The chance remains that all parties might reconvene to book that bout for the UFC’s gala end-of-the-year pay-per-view, especially now that the groundwork is laid and the initial storm of public outcry has been weathered.

It’s a fight nobody who actually knows anything about MMA wants to see, one no one has been able to justify aside from saying it seems like a good way for all involved to make a lot of money. Somehow, though—and despite Davis’ meeting with Rousey two-and-a-half months from now—it retains an air of depressing inevitability.

For one more fight, however, we can hold off on the debates over its propriety, the philosophical questions about PPV customers knowingly participating in a naked cash grab and all the fire and brimstone about what MMA really means.

Davis vs. Rousey will be a good, spirited fight between the unbeaten champion and a challenger who did everything that was asked of her in order to earn the chance.

I suggest we enjoy it for what it is.

There’s no telling what might come next.

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UFC Booking Alert: Ronda Rousey to Face Alexis Davis at UFC 175


(Did you know: Ronda Rousey doesn’t listen to music, only the screams of past opponents. / Photo via Getty)

Ronda Rousey‘s next opponent has been determined. It’s not Holly Holm. It’s not Gina Carano, and it’s definitely not Cris Cyborg.

It’s Alexis Davis, who’s currently 3-0 in the UFC and is on a five-fight win streak overall.

Dana White announced the fight over twitter last night.

To be honest, we’re a little disappointed. Find out why after the jump.


(Did you know: Ronda Rousey doesn’t listen to music, only the screams of past opponents. / Photo via Getty)

Ronda Rousey‘s next opponent has been determined. It’s not Holly Holm. It’s not Gina Carano, and it’s definitely not Cris Cyborg. It’s Alexis Davis, who’s currently 3-0 in the UFC and is on a five-fight win streak overall. Dana White announced the fight over twitter last night.

To be honest, we’re a little disappointed. We wanted one of the “big three” names that get thrown around when Rousey is mentioned–Carano, Cyborg, or Holm.

Dana White met with Gina Carano recently, but apparently nothing came of it–at least nothing immediate. It’s still possible that they eventually work something out. Who knows, maybe Carano will face Rousey at the UFC’s year-end card. And while Carano getting an immediate title shot after several years of inactivity would be insane, the amount of buzz that a Carano-Rousey fight would generate is undeniable (even if the fight itself would be one-sided in favor of Rousey).

And, of course, we already know that the UFC (more specifically Dana White) is not at all sold on the idea of Holly Holm in the UFC. And Cyborg? She’ll likely never see the inside of the Octagon, sadly.

So it looks like the Rousey hype train will justifiably pick up more steam this July at UFC 175. We’re not going to officially call the fight right now to avoid a “Dewey Defeats Truman” scenario, but a Rousey win is certainly more likely. Davis just isn’t on the same level in terms of skill and raw athleticism. Remember our theory about the UFC women’s bantamweight division just being a feeder system for Rousey? Looking more true with each booking!

On This Day in MMA History: The Gina Carano Lip Bite Gif Was Born (Also, Nick Diaz Fought Frank Shamrock)


(Oh God…can’t…control…the hnnnnnng.)

Although Gina Carano may have stepped away from our beloved sport years ago, her ability to captivate and stimulate MMA fans in gif form remains unmatched to this day. But none of the truly amazing photos, screengrabs, or gifs Carano has been responsible for over the years hold a candle to the night she was captured biting her lip at Strikeforce: Shamrock vs. Diaz on April 11th, 2009 — five years ago today.

In fact, nothing Carano has done since — not the sexy dance or Haywire or even fighting for the Strikeforce Women’s championship — quite compares to the glorious night she bit her lip while staring directly into the soul of our wieners, and I say that with all due respect. Because above all else, Carano has always been a bit of a trailblazer. She brought women’s MMA into the mainstream and was one of the sport’s first crossover stars, to the point that she is still being used to promote WMMA despite leaving it behind some 5 years ago. She also was the first female fighter to bite her lip on camera, capturing the imagination of the country in doing so. And for that last thing, we give thanks.

But there is an unsung hero in all this, a person who truly helped launch Carano’s lip-biting career into the stratosphere and one who finally deserves his due credit. I’m talking about the Strikeforce cameraman who was given the simple assignment of filming Gina Carano sitting ringside and used the opportunity to forever cement his place in MMA History, of course. I don’t mean to overstate this, but the way he ever so slightly pushed in on Carano (phrasing) just in time for the lip bite is a moment of filmmaking history comparable to Spielberg’s dolly zoom shot in Jaws.

Georgia O’Keeffe spent most of her career trying to capture the essence of female sexuality, strength, and femininity, and this anonymous Strikeforce cameraman managed to do it in under 15 seconds. So on this day, we salute you, Strikeforce cameraman responsible for the Gina Carano lip-bite gif (“Reeeeal men of geeenius…”).

Oh yeah, Nick Diaz vs. Frank Shamrock also went down on this day five years ago. We’ve thrown a full video of their fight after the jump, if you’re into that sort of thing.


(Oh God…can’t…control…the hnnnnnng.)

Although Gina Carano may have stepped away from our beloved sport years ago, her ability to captivate and stimulate MMA fans in gif form remains unmatched to this day. But none of the truly amazing photos, screengrabs, or gifs Carano has been responsible for over the years hold a candle to the night she was captured biting her lip at Strikeforce: Shamrock vs. Diaz on April 11th, 2009 — five years ago today.

In fact, nothing Carano has done since — not the sexy dance or Haywire or even fighting for the Strikeforce Women’s championship — quite compares to the glorious night she bit her lip while staring directly into the soul of our wieners, and I say that with all due respect. Because above all else, Carano has always been a bit of a trailblazer. She brought women’s MMA into the mainstream and was one of the sport’s first crossover stars, to the point that she is still being used to promote WMMA despite leaving it behind some 5 years ago. She also was the first female fighter to bite her lip on camera, capturing the imagination of the country in doing so. And for that last thing, we give thanks.

But there is an unsung hero in all this, a person who truly helped launch Carano’s lip-biting career into the stratosphere and one who finally deserves his due credit. I’m talking about the Strikeforce cameraman who was given the simple assignment of filming Gina Carano sitting ringside and used the opportunity to forever cement his place in MMA History, of course. I don’t mean to overstate this, but the way he ever so slightly pushed in on Carano (phrasing) just in time for the lip bite is a moment of filmmaking history comparable to Spielberg’s dolly zoom shot in Jaws.

Georgia O’Keeffe spent most of her career trying to capture the essence of female sexuality, strength, and femininity, and this anonymous Strikeforce cameraman managed to do it in under 15 seconds. So on this day, we salute you, Strikeforce cameraman responsible for the Gina Carano lip-bite gif (“Reeeeal men of geeenius…”).

Oh yeah, Nick Diaz vs. Frank Shamrock also went down on this day five years ago. We’ve thrown a full video of their fight after the jump, if you’re into that sort of thing.

–J. Jones

Rousey Responds to Cyborg: ‘She Got Dropped Like 5 Times in Her Last Fight’

UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, as expected, scoffed at the notion that she’s running from Invicta FC featherweight titleholder Cristiane Justino. 
In a brief interview with TMZ, the “Rowdy” one went off on her Brazilian rival when…

UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, as expected, scoffed at the notion that she’s running from Invicta FC featherweight titleholder Cristiane Justino. 

In a brief interview with TMZ, the “Rowdy” one went off on her Brazilian rival when asked about the recent comments “Cyborg” made on AXS TV’s Inside MMA. 

“She got dropped like five times in her last fight … to some chick I’ve never heard of before. By the way, that chick was a ‘G’, that was pretty cool. But uh, yea, I’m the one with the belt and I’m not going anywhere. She was the one who asked to be released from the UFC like 24 hours after they announced out of competition drug testing, so I don’t know who’s running from who in this scenario. But she knows where I’m at, I’m not going anywhere.”

Rousey is referring to Justino’s unanimous decision loss to undefeated Jorina Baars at Lion Fight 14 late last month. The matchup was a pure striking bout contested under Muay Thai rules. 

Despite having a quick, decisive knockout win over Hiroko Yamanaka changed to a no contest following testing positive for steroids in January 2012, the UFC still decided to add Cyborg to their roster. 

The UFC’s parent company, Zuffa LLC, purchased Strikeforce in March 2011. Therefore, once the company folded in January 2013, the UFC had the option of retaining the contracts of any and all Strikeforce competitors. 

A superfight between Rousey and Justino seemed imminent in early 2013. However, after weeks of negotiating came up short, the heavy-handed striker asked for her release and the UFC obliged, per MMA Weekly.  

Justino has since scored back-to-back TKO’s under the Invicta FC banner, capturing the featherweight championship after she won a rematch with Marloes Coenen back in July. 

While Justino has recently changed her stance about making the 135-pound bantamweight limit, she has made it clear she would prefer to meet Rousey at featherweight (145 pounds), per Yahoo! Sports.  

Rousey remains indifferent about a grudge match with Cyborg, though she has recently expressed serious interest in a dream matchup with women’s MMA pioneer Gina Carano, per MMA Fighting. 

Will fight fans ever get the pleasure of watching Rousey vs. Cyborg or is this just another fantasy fight that will never become a reality?

 

John Heinis is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA editor for eDraft.com.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com