Gina Carano Return Divides Ronda Rousey, Randy Couture
As The Inquisitr previously reported, Gina Carano is looking to make a return to mixed martial arts fighting after a five-year hiatus. However, UFC president Dana White is still working on the contract for Carano.
In the meantime, two people have voiced their opinions on Carano’s possible return. They are Ronda Rousey, whom Gina Carano is supposed to fight in December, and former UFC fighter Randy Couture.
During an interview with ESPN The Magazine, in which she was promoting The Expendables 3 and some of her other upcoming films, the interviewer asked Rousey about the possibility of the match between her and Gina Carano being delayed, since Carano is scheduled to film a thriller called The Opium War. Rousey said she would “totally understand” if Carano chose to delay the fight.
“I know how hard it is to juggle a schedule of fights and movies,” she said. “If I had a similar situation, I’d hope she’d do the same for me. I take both careers extremely seriously. I don’t see why she shouldn’t.”
If the match between her and Gina Carano does happen, Rousey would be considered the favorite. And even though she said she would obviously “want to win,” her coach told her that Carano is the “worst style matchup” for her.
“I’m not just saying that,” Rousey added. “I don’t have to worry about fighters outmuscling or overwhelming me or catching me on the mat. The only thing I have to worry about is the one-punch knockout.”
Rousey continued by saying that Gina Carano “has the best feel for distance and timing” than any other female mixed martial arts fighter.
“That’s not something you lose because you made a couple of movies,” she added. “You’ll always have that. And she was the first girl I ever saw that had a one-punch standing knockout.”
Rousey also mentioned that Gina Carano is “the one who can knock you out – while standing on her feet – with one punch.”
“That’s what makes her the most dangerous,” she said.
Rousey believes that Gina Carano will be her “hardest competitor.”
“Even if you don’t believe that, even if you think she took too much time off and it’d be a quick fight, to be honest, that fight would be too hot not to watch,” she added. “It doesn’t really matter if it’ll be competitive or not. And if you do watch it, you’re going to be surprised: It’ll be one of greatest fights to ever happen in the history of women’s MMA.”
However, retired fighter Randy Couture, who helped train Gina Carano, thinks this matchup is “silly” for someone who hasn’t fought in five years.
“I think Gina has way more to lose there than she has to gain in stepping right in to a title fight after being off and off the mats in training environment for the last five years,” Couture said during an interview on The MMA Hour, via MMA Fighting.
Couture added that Carano has had an “amazing” acting career so far, but he feels that UFC should give her some time to regain herself before putting her up against a person like Rousey.
“I think if they give her a chance to really get her feet back under her and get back up to technical speed where she was, it would be a very interesting fight,” he said.
But he does think that Gina Carano is a “solid striker,” and that is someone Rousey has yet to really face.
“I think if Gina had an Achilles heel, even when she was at her peak over five years ago, it was the grappling side of things,” Couture said. “So, my sincere hope is that they give her a chance to get up to speed, get back into top fight shape and really kind of shore up her grappling technique and that side of her game, and then it would be an amazing fight.”
What are your thoughts on the possibility of Gina Carano facing Ronda Rousey?
[Featured image credit: Reuters via International Business Times]
[Inline image credit: Cancunboxing’s Blog]
