I have someone special to feature today - Gina Carano. Gina Carano has been number 2 on my list of most searched athletes for 2008 and from my research I am now seeing why. She is a woman wiht a lot of things going for her, as she carries herself from the fighting ring to the silver screen. But what catches the audiences attention is how could this seemingly beautiful and charming woman be involved in the world's toughest fight matches of which she has excelled in time and time again.Out of the ring Carano starred in the cult film Ring Girls Based on true events, Ring Girls is a fast-paced story about five American women from Las Vegas who take on the ultimate challenge of fighting the best female Muay Thai fighters in the world.
Along with Lisa King, Carano served as a mentor to aspiring female fighters in the Oxygen reality series Fight Girls. She currently appears as "Crush" on the NBC show American Gladiators. She will also be featured in the new Michael Jai White film Blood and Bone slated to be released sometime in 2008.
She was profiled in a feature story for the ESPN series E:60, and was voted "Hottest Woman In America" by Big Biz Magazine in the Spring 2008 issue. On May 13, 2008, "Gina Carano" was the fastest-rising search on Google and third most searched person on Yahoo! She has also appeared in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 as Natasha. a playable character.
Inside the ring Carano started her career in the sport of Muay Thai. After achieving a Muay Thai record of 12-1-1,Carano received an offer to participate in the first-ever sanctioned female MMA bout in Nevada. She was invited to the World Pro Fighting show in Las Vegas to fight Rosi Sexton from the United Kingdom.
She fought on the February 10, 2007, Showtime EliteXC card, defeating Julie Kedzie via unanimous decision in what was called "the fight of the night".
Her scheduled bout against Jan Finney at the EliteXC/K-1 Dynamite!! USA event on June 2, 2007 was canceled due to illness. The Fight Network and other organizations reported that she was rushed to the hospital via ambulance due to dehydration while attending a World Extreme Cagefighting event as a spectator.
Carano fought on the September 15, 2007, Showtime EliteXC card, where she defeated Tonya Evinger via rear naked choke for her first career win by submission.
Carano defeated former Hook N Shoot champion Kaitlin Young on EliteXC: Primetime on May 31, 2008. A day before the fight, Carano failed to make weight for her fight (140 pounds (63.5 kg)) after weighing in at 144.5 (65.5 kg). Although most MMA organizations set weight classes at 135 (Bantamweight (MMA)) and 145 (Featherweight (MMA)) pounds (61.2 and 65.8 kg, respectively), EliteXC opted to create a women's weight class at 140 pounds. Carano agreed to forfeit 12.5% of her "show" purse to Young, and the fight remained on the card.
Carano's latest fight was against Kelly Kobold on October 4, 2008 at EliteXC: Heat at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida which was broadcast on CBS.
Leading up to her fight against Kobold, there was much controversy over whether or not Gina would make weight for this fight, having fought only once in the past year and not making weight at that time. Gina assured critics that she would be able to make weight since she had hired a nutritionist to help with her dieting. At the weigh-in for the Kobold fight on October 3, 2008, "Gina Carano weighed in at 142.75 pounds on her first attempt. After removing her sports bra, a towel-covered Carano weighed in a second time at 142.5 pounds. On her third attempt without any clothes on, Carano weighed 141 pounds., successfully making weight.
Early on, Kobold was intent on pressing Carano in the clinch, while working for the takedown throughout the fight. Kobold managed a takedown in the second round, but the round ended before she could take meaningful advantage of it. Carano worked her opportunities by hitting Kobold at every turn whenever the fighters separated, while also opening a huge gash on the inside of her opponent’s eyebrow in the first round. At the end of the third round, Carano looked to finish the fight as she unloaded a head kick that landed flush on Kobold’s chin, but Kobold was not knocked out and the bout came to a close.
Carano won by unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)[19] and remains undefeated. After she won the fight, she dedicated her fight to her grandfather.
A fight against Cristiane Santos was in the works for February 2009, although after EliteXC folded the fight become null. The possibility of the fight still happening in the future was dependent on which promotion the two women signed with next.
After Strikeforce purchased the assets of ProElite. Carano, along with other fighters within the defunct promotion, became contractually linked with Strikeforce, after many months of a stalemate regarding their free agent status.
Here's a video from showtime featuring Gina Carano:
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