Gina Joy Carano (born April 16, 1982) is an American model, actress, and mixed martial arts fighter. Carano appeared as the Gladiator "Crush" on American Gladiators. She has been referred to as the "Face of Women's MMA."[1]
Carano was formerly the #3-ranked 145-pound female fighter in the world according to the Unified Women's MMA Rankings.[2][3]
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Carano was born in Dallas County, Texas, the middle daughter of Glenn Carano and Dana (Cason). She has two sisters.[4][5] Carano has said that she is a "small percentage of Italian" descent.[6] Her father played for the Dallas Cowboys as a backup quarterback from 1977–1983 and for the USFL Pittsburgh Maulers as a starter in 1984, their only year of operations.
She graduated from Trinity Christian High School in Las Vegas, Nevada where she led the girls basketball team to a state title. She also played volleyball and softball.[7] She attended the University of Nevada, Reno for a year and then University of Nevada, Las Vegas for three, where she majored in psychology.[5]
Carano started her career in the sport of Muay Thai. After achieving a Muay Thai record of 12-1-1,[8] 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.[9] Carano won the fight by knocking out Sexton late in the second round.
Carano faced Elaina Maxwell at Strikeforce: Triple Threat on December 8, 2006. She won the fight via unanimous decision.[10] Carano proved critics wrong when she defeated Maxwell for the second time; the first victory coming in a Muay Thai bout. The fight was also the first female fight in Strikeforce.
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."[11] The fight was the first televised female fight on Showtime.
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 news outlets reported that she was rushed to the hospital via ambulance due to dehydration while attending a World Extreme Cagefighting event as a spectator.[12]
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.[13] Carano impressed critics by holding her own on the ground before submitting Evinger late in the first round.
Carano defeated former HOOKnSHOOT Champion Kaitlin Young at EliteXC: Primetime on May 31, 2008.[14] A day before the fight, Carano failed to make weight for her fight after weighing in at 144.5 lb (65.5 kg). Although most MMA organizations set weight classes at 135 (bantamweight) and 145 (featherweight) pounds (61.2 and 65.8 kg, respectively), EliteXC opted to create a women's weight class at 140 pounds.[15] Carano agreed to forfeit 12.5% of her "show" purse to Young, and the fight remained on the card.[16]
Leading up to her fight against Kelly Kobold, there was much controversy over whether or not Gina would make weight for the fight, as she had fought only once in the past year and had failed to make weight. 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.[17] After removing her sports bra, a towel-covered Carano weighed in a second time at 142.5 pounds.[18] On her third attempt, without any clothes on, Carano weighed 141 pounds[19] and successfully made 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.[20] 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 remained on her feet and the bout came to a close.[21]
Carano won by unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)[22] and remained undefeated. After she won, she dedicated the fight to her grandfather.
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.[23]
It was announced at Strikeforce: Lawler vs. Shields that Carano's fight against Cristiane Santos would take place on August 15, 2009, at Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg. Strikeforce also created their first Women's Championship for the bout.
Though the 145-pound division is most commonly referred to as featherweight, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker stated that the title would be known as the Strikeforce Women's Lightweight Championship.[24] The title was later renamed the Strikeforce Women's Middleweight Championship.[25]
Carano lost the fight against Santos by TKO at 4:59 in the first round.[26]
Following her loss to Santos, Carano was out of action for the remainder of 2009 and the entirety of 2010. In November 2010, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker stated he was hopeful that she would return in 2011.[27] Carano's return was formally announced in February 2011.[28]
Strikeforce announced at its April 9 event in San Diego that Carano would make her return on June 18 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, during the Overeem vs. Werdum Strikeforce event. Her opponent will be Sarah D'Alelio. This bout will be the first women's bout ever held by Zuffa, who have been detractors of women's MMA in the past. Critics assert that the reason for the turnaround is Carano's marketability.[29][30][31] Initially Strikeforce announced Carano failed her pre-fight medical examination due to an unknown issue and the fight was pulled from the card.[32] Rumors abound that Carano was pregnant.[33] As the story continues to develop it's become public that Carano was medically cleared by the Athletic Commission but was removed from the card for unknown reasons. Her return date is also unknown.[34] Carano will make her first public appearance at the 2011 San Diego Comic Con since her mysterious removal from Strikeforce's June 18th event.[35]
Carano starred in the cult film Ring Girls.[36] 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.[37]
Along with Lisa King, Carano served as a mentor to aspiring female fighters in the Oxygen reality series Fight Girls. She appeared as "Crush" on the NBC show American Gladiators, in which she also starred in the workout video of the show along with Monica Carlson (Jet), Jennifer Widerstrom (Phoenix), Michael O'Hearn (Titan), Tanoai Reed (Toa) and Don "Hollywood" Yates (Wolf). The DVD was released on December 16, 2008. She is also featured in the Michael Jai White film Blood and Bone.[38]
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.[39] On May 13, 2008, "Gina Carano" was the fastest-rising search on Google and third most searched person on Yahoo!.[4][40] She has also appeared in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 as Natasha,[41] a purchasable hero unit, portraying the Soviet sniper/commando in various cutscenes.
She was ranked as #5 on the "Top Ten Influential Women of 2008" list on Yahoo![42]
In May 2009, it was announced that Carano was ranked #16 in Maxim's Hot 100 list.
On September 6, 2009, she was reported as playing the leading role in a new spy thriller movie Haywire directed by Steven Soderbergh.[43][44]
She is one of the cover athletes along with Serena Williams[45] for the October 19, 2009 edition of ESPN The Magazine's Body Issue. Carano and Williams were also two of the athletes featured in a book by Dana Rasmussen.[46]
Gina's ex-boyfriend Kevin Ross, a pro Muay Thai fighter, got her involved in Muay Thai.[47]
| Professional record breakdown | [show] | |
|---|---|---|
Result |
Record | Opponent |
Method |
Event |
Date |
Round |
Time |
Location |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loss | 7–1 | Cristiane Santos | TKO (punches) | Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg | August 15, 2009 | 1 | 4:59 | San Jose, California, United States | For the Women's Middleweight Championship (145 lb) |
| Win | 7–0 | Kelly Kobold | Decision (unanimous) | EliteXC: Heat | October 4, 2008 | 3 | 3:00 | Sunrise, Florida, United States | |
| Win | 6–0 | Kaitlin Young | TKO (doctor stoppage) | EliteXC: Primetime | May 31, 2008 | 2 | 3:00 | Newark, New Jersey, United States | |
| Win | 5–0 | Tonya Evinger | Submission (rear naked choke) | EliteXC: Uprising | September 15, 2007 | 1 | 2:53 | Oahu, Hawaii, United States | |
| Win | 4–0 | Julie Kedzie | Decision (unanimous) | EliteXC: Destiny | February 10, 2007 | 3 | 3:00 | Southaven, Mississippi, United States | |
| Win | 3–0 | Elaina Maxwell | Decision (unanimous) | Strikeforce: Triple Threat | December 8, 2006 | 3 | 2:00 | San Jose, California, United States | |
| Win | 2–0 | Rosi Sexton | KO (punch) | World Pro Fighting Championships 1 | September 15, 2006 | 2 | 4:55 | Las Vegas, Nevada, United States | |
| Win | 1–0 | Leiticia Pestova | KO (punches and elbows) | World Extreme Fighting | June 10, 2006 | 1 | 0:38 | Las Vegas, Nevada, United States |
