Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Check out these photos highlighting the MMA and acting career of Gina Carano through the years.
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Check out these photos highlighting the MMA and acting career of [autotag]Gina Carano[/autotag] through the years.
Is Gina Carano vs. Ronda Rousey a fight you’d be interested in seeing?
[autotag]Gina Carano[/autotag] isn’t opposed to the idea of a potential superfight with UFC Hall of Famer [autotag]Ronda Rousey[/autotag].
Carano, a pioneer and early star of women’s MMA before becoming an actress, reacted to Rousey’s recent comment that she’d only come back from retirement to fight Carano (7-1). Speaking with FOX News, Carano said she’d entertain the possibility.
“You know what? Just never put it past me,” Carano said when asked if she’d consider fighting Rousey. “It could happen. It would be like, you know, six months from now, because I have a lot of stuff I need to do. But my fight really is with I really want to create, I want to direct, I want to produce, I want to give Ronda Rousey a job in one of my movies, so maybe there is something we can do there.”
The UFC did try to make a fight between Carano and Rousey years go. According to Carano, the UFC offered her $1 million to fight then-undefeated bantamweight champion Rousey but felt pressured when White told media she was being signed before having a chance to build a fight camp and team. Since Carano didn’t feel comfortable with White’s decision to go public, the fight never materialized.
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Rousey (12-2) hasn’t competed in MMA since her title-fight loss to Amanda Nunes in December 2016. She has since become a mother and taken her talents to pro wrestling where she is the current WWE SmackDown women’s champion.
Meanwhile, Carano hasn’t fought since an August 2009 loss to Cris Cyborg for the inaugural Strikeforce women’s featherweight title in what was the first major MMA event headlined by a women’s bout. The TKO loss remains Carano’s only professional defeat.
After that, Carano turned to acting and has starred in such films as “Haywire” (2011), “Fast and Furious 6” (2013), “Deadpool” (2016), and her latest Daily Wire-produced film “Terror on the Prairie,” which was released earlier this month and also stars UFC veteran Donald Cerrone.
Carano had a starring role on the popular Disney+ series, “The Mandalorian,” but was fired in February 2021 after she likened Republicans to victims of the Holocaust.
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Ronda Rousey is done with mixed martial arts, but there’s one fighter that could pull her out of retirement.
[autotag]Ronda Rousey[/autotag] is done with mixed martial arts, but there’s one fighter that could pull her out of retirement.
Rousey hasn’t competed in MMA since her title-fight loss to Amanda Nunes at UFC 207 in December 2016, but is flourishing in the professional wrestling world.
One fight that Rousey always wanted but didn’t materialize throughout her UFC career is [autotag]Gina Carano[/autotag], who says Dana White is the reason their planned fight fell through.
“There’s only one person … there’s only one person I would come back for,” Rousey said on the Kurt Angle Show. “I mean, I’ve said it a million times. It’s not like it’s something new. (I’d come back) for Gina, man – Gina Carano. She’s the reason why I got into fighting. She’s the reason why I knew it was a possibility. I will always be forever grateful. If she ever was like, ‘Ronda, I want to fight you tomorrow at 205 pounds’ – like, whatever the hell she’d want. I’m not saying she’s 205 pounds; she’s very svelte.
“If she wanted to come into my backyard and do the ‘Rocky’ thing, you know, ‘Ding-ding,’ and we just do it in the backyard, I don’t care. I will fight Gina wherever she wants. And if she doesn’t want to, forever, I will leave that offer there. It’s a respect thing, not like a, ‘F*ck you, I’m coming to get you.’ It’s just like, ‘Hey, if you ever want to pull that card out, it’s there.’ I love her. Thank you, Gina, for everything you’ve done.”
According to Carano, the UFC offered her $1 million to fight then-undefeated bantamweight champion Rousey, but felt pressured when White told media she was being signed before having a chance to build a six-month camp. That and a text White sent her by mistake proved to be the nail in the coffin.
Rousey is the current WWE SmackDown women’s champion. She was inducted to the UFC Hall of Fame in July 2018.
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Dana White says Fedor Emelianenko vs. Brock Lesnar is “the only fight that I ever failed to make,” but that’s not exactly true.
One thing fans of mixed martial arts often rave about compared to boxing is that, in MMA, “the best fight the best.” While that’s mostly true, it’s not always the case.
Every now and then we clamor for a fight that doesn’t get made for one reason or another. In the history of the UFC, it’s happened a handful of times, although UFC president Dana White insists it’s happened only once since he took over the promotion in 2001.
“Well, if you think about it, I’ve made every fight that was ever possible to make in MMA, including Mayweather and McGregor,” White said Wednesday during a fan Q&A hosted by Laura Sanko. “The only fight that I ever failed to make was Fedor vs. Brock. Every other fight that we ever thought about or the fans wanted to see or whatever it was, I’ve made.”
That’s not entirely true.
Below are five UFC superfights White should’ve made but didn’t.
(Note: This list excludes fights that were booked but didn’t happen because of circumstances outside of the UFC’s control.)
Take our quiz to find out how much you know about MMA’s first female superstar.
[autotag]Gina Carano[/autotag]’s MMA tenure didn’t last long in years or number of fights. But her impact is unquestioned after the barriers she broke on her way to becoming MMA’s first female superstar, which she parlayed into a successful career in Hollywood.
Take our quiz to test your knowledge of her fighting career and life outside the cage.
How well did you do? Share your results with us and play more MMA Junkie Trivia.
According to Gina Carano, she didn’t see the backlash coming once she hit send on a social media post interpreted as anti-Semitic.
When [autotag]Gina Carano[/autotag] hit send on a social media post comparing Republicans living in the current American political climate to Jews during the Holocaust, she never expected to it would cause such an uproar that would lead to her firing from “The Mandalorian.”
Or so she says.
Carano, 38, was dismissed from her lead role as Cara Dune on the wildly popular Disney+ series last week after the hashtag #FireGinaCarano trended worldwide. That alone, she said, caught her off guard before she was ultimately dumped by Lucasfilm, which produces the “Star Wars” franchise.
“I was in utter shock and confusion when certain people said it was antis-Smitic,” Carano said in a written message to former New York Times columnist Bari Weiss. “Then, as I went to take it down, I noticed that the image was not the same as the one people were referencing. I was honestly confused: Should I take it down, or leave it up? I still don’t know the answer to that question, because taking it down only makes the mob attack you more.”
Carano did delete the post, which contained a black-and-white photo of an apparently beaten woman fleeing from attackers in the streets, along with a written message not in quotation marks, accompanied by a sad face emoji:
Jews were beaten in the streets, not by Nazi soldiers but by their neghbors…even by children.
Carano also offered up the following words in quotation marks:
“Because history is edited, most people today don’t realize that to get to the point where Nazi soldiers could easily round up thousands of Jews, the government first made their own neighbors hate them simply for being Jews. How is that any different from hating someone for their political views?”
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In a message to Weiss, Carano explained her intent.
“The image for me was a statement that people need to stand together and rise up, stop being so manipulated by the powers that believe they know what’s best for you and play games with our lives,” Carano said. “My heart has only ever had ultimate respect and love for the Jewish community.”
Carano, who became known for spreading unfounded conspiracy theories last year, peeled back the curtain in revealing that “The Mandalorian” executives wanted her to “use their exact wording for an apology over pronoun usage” after she briefly updated her Twitter bio to read “beep/bop/boop” as a way to mock people’s personal preferences. In the end, Carano said she found out she was fired from the show like everyone else – on social media.
She has since signed on for a producing and starring role in a new movie project backed by conservative website The Daily Wire.
Carano, a pioneer for women’s MMA before starting her acting career, last fought in August 2009, when she lost to Cris Cyborg for the inaugural Strikeforce women’s featherweight title in what was the first major MMA event headlined by a women’s bout. The TKO loss remains Carano’s only professional defeat.
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This continues to make headlines.
Welcome to FTW Explains: a guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world.
By now, you may be familiar with what’s going on with actress Gina Carano, who was fired from the Disney+ hit The Mandalorian last week due to an offensive post on Instagram that compared conservatives in the United States to how Jews were treated in the Holocaust.
But now, there are journalists, the UFC and ESPN wrapped up in the controversy. And if you’re wondering why the heck that would be the case, you’ve come to the right place. Let’s break it down:
Our Hemal Jhaveri looked at not just that post, but many others from Carano that are so awful. This wasn’t just an isolated incident.
Because Carano used to be an MMA fighter.
Yeah! You may have forgotten that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOAs68YcTzs
Per MMA Junkie, from Friday:
“Leave Gina alone,” White said. “Listen, we make mistakes. We all make mistakes. For everybody to go in on her – I love how Ariel Helwani made it all about him. It was all about him. Such a douche.”
Helwani is a journalist for ESPN who covers MMA. And this isn’t the first time we’ve seen White call him out — in 2016, Helwani said he was banned for life from covering UFC events, which the reporter said was due to being “too negative” with his coverage. The UFC eventually lifted the ban.
What’s also important here is that Helwani is Jewish. He addressed Carano’s statements on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CLK0DucBM7G/?utm_source=ig_embed
“As a Jewish person, and as a human being, it doesn’t sit well. And I wish she would have never posted that, and quite frankly I wish someone would have talked to her about her social media posts over the past year, some of them not even political. Just in general, they felt off to me. And I am sorry she has gone down this path.”
Yes:
A number of @arielhelwani’s ESPN colleagues are defending him publicly. pic.twitter.com/batoeidLfk
— Ryan Glasspiegel (@sportsrapport) February 14, 2021
If @ESPN is interested in journalism, it can ask some questions here of bully and corporate partner @danawhite. There is certainly a douche here. But it ain’t the journalist @arielhelwani. Pick a side, ESPN. Quiet is complicit. — Dan https://t.co/hPLzHI8v1K
— Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (@LeBatardShow) February 14, 2021
ESPN later did release a statement (via MMA Junkie):
“Ariel is a valued colleague and an exceptional MMA reporter. His record speaks for itself.”
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UFC president Dana White has enmeshed partner ESPN in a spinoff controversy after ESPN corporate parent Disney fired Gina Carano.
Less than a week after Disney fired actress and former mixed martial arts star [autotag]Gina Carano[/autotag] over social media posts widely viewed as anti-Semitic, a Disney corporate partner has enmeshed the company in a spinoff controversy.
At a UFC 258 media availability Friday, UFC president Dana White, whose promotion airs on Disney-owned ESPN properties, was asked about Carano’s situation.
White used the occasion to take an unprompted shot at an ESPN employee of Jewish heritage with whom he has feuded, Ariel Helwani.
“Leave Gina alone,” White said. “Listen, we make mistakes. We all make mistakes. For everybody to go in on her – I love how Ariel Helwani made it all about him. It was all about him. Such a douche.”
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After a weekend in which several of Helwani’s higher-profile colleagues at ESPN tweeted in support of their colleague while the company was silent, ESPN issued its first public comment on the situation Monday.
“Ariel is a valued colleague and an exceptional MMA reporter. His record speaks for itself,” ESPN told the New York Post.
Helwani posted on the issue on social media over the weekend.
“As a Jewish person, and as a human being, it just doesn’t sit well,” Helwani’s post said in part. “And I wish she would have never posted that. And quite frankly I wish someone would have talked to her about her social media posts over the past year. Some of them not even political. Just in general, they felt off to me. I am sorry she has gone down this path.”
White, who has gone silent on his previous vocal support of former President Donald Trump since the insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6, has considered Helwani an enemy for years.
Their most high-profile dustup came at UFC 199 in Inglewood, Calif., in June 2016. White was upset with Helwani, then employed by Vox Media, for reporting on Brock Lesnar’s planned return to the company before it could reveal the news on its own during the broadcast. The UFC responded by revoking the Helwani’s credentials, as well as those of his camera crew members E. Casey Leydon and Esther Lin, mid-event. The trio’s credentials were restored several days later after a public backlash.
The list of current and former ESPN employees who spoke out before the company issued its statement include Sarah Spain, Pablo Torres, Kenny Mayne and Dan LeBatard.
A number of @arielhelwani’s ESPN colleagues are defending him publicly. pic.twitter.com/batoeidLfk
— Ryan Glasspiegel (@sportsrapport) February 14, 2021
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Gina Carano: In Pictures
Gina Carano: In Pictures
Gina Carano has a supporter in UFC president Dana White.
[autotag]Gina Carano[/autotag] has a supporter in UFC president Dana White.
Carano was fired from her starring role in “The Mandalorian” earlier this week after she shared a social media post in which she compared Republicans living in the current American political climate to Jews during the Holocaust.
That created a firestorm on social media and eventually led to Lucasfilm dismissing Carano from “The Mandalorian,” the popular Disney+ show in the “Star Wars” franchise on which she had a recurring key role as Cara Dune for the first two seasons.
On Friday, White voiced his support for Carano when asked about the situation after the UFC 258 weigh-ins and also took a shot at an ESPN personality with whom he’s long feuded.
“Leave Gina alone,” White said. “Listen, we make mistakes. We all make mistakes. For everybody to go in on her – I love how Ariel Helwani made it all about him. It was all about him. Such a douche.”
On Friday, Carano announced she has signed on for a producing and starring role in a new movie project backed by conservative website The Daily Wire. In a statement, she said she’s “sending out a direct message of hope to everyone living in fear of cancellation by the totalitarian mob.”
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In 2011, White released Miguel Torres from the UFC after the then-bantamweight contender tweeted a rape joke deemed offensive by the promotion. White, however, has become more lenient about his fighters’ conduct through the years, and his support of Carano falls in line with that approach.
Last year, Colby Covington made racially charged statements about rival Tyron Woodley and the Black Lives Matter movement, inciting outrage from several Black UFC fighters who condemned Covington for being racist. White, a staunch supporter and good friend of former President Donald Trump, took no action against Covington.
“These guys all have their own causes, things – all their own beliefs,” White said at the time. “We don’t muzzle anybody here. We let everybody speak their mind.”
White and Carano, 38, have some history between them. In November 2018, the women’s MMA pioneer opened up about how White ruined negotiations for a potential fight with Ronda Rousey in the UFC.
Carano last fought in August 2009, when she lost to Cris Cyborg for the inaugural Strikeforce women’s featherweight title in what was the first major MMA event headlined by a women’s bout. The TKO loss remains Carano’s only professional defeat.
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