Gina Carano is one of the most beloved mixed martial artists on the planet and is the face of women's MMA. But the part-time American Gladiator now has the chance on Saturday night to prove she's a lot more than a pretty face, as she'll be in one of the featured fights for EliteXC's first ever televised card on CBS.
As an athlete, her results have been good. She's 5-0 as an MMA fighter, which includes two straight wins in EliteXC. Before transitioning into the fast growing sport, she compiled a 12-1-1 record in Muay Thai competition.
Of course, many people know her from her role on the new American Gladiator show, where she has quickly become one of the most popular gladiators.
In MMA, her nickname is "Conviction." But on the NBC show, she's simply called "Crush."
The reasons are simple: 1) She crushes people, and 2) North America has a crush on her.
That is evident all over the place. She has been featured in magazines such as Maxim, on U.S. cable stations such as Showtime, and has been voted hottest athlete according to a number of polls (Not to mention coming in at No. 4 on Sportsnet's highly celebrated list).
But she still hasn't quite become a household name. There's a good chance that's about to change.
This past month, she was featured on a recent episode of ESPN's E60 program -- the "60 Minutes" for sports -- which undoubtedly has already risen her profile. And it allowed people to get to know a little bit more about the person.
A couple of her quotes from that program:
"I like to by physical. I like to use my body."
"(MMA is) raw. It's real. I think that's why I love it."
(And some wonder why people love her.)
The thing is, she's taken some heat from other female mixed martial artists, suggesting she is getting most of the attention for her sexuality rather than her athletic ability. She may be undefeated, but she hasn't yet faced the top competition there is.
Tara LaRosa, perhaps the best female athlete in the game, and with a 15-1 record to back that up, has been particularly vocal. In fact, on the E60 show, she said:
"The girls who have to sell their sexuality must be compensating for something else."
Ouch.
LaRosa added she felt the "skimpy, sexual side" was disrespectful to the sport, but then acknowledged that women's MMA is better with her than without her, since it only helps put the sport in the spotlight. (You can't have your cake and it too, Tara.)
Carano, for her part, doesn't quite get the criticism. She says she hasn't done anything in her career to push the sex symbol thing. And she also says she won't do Playboy. (Sorry, guys.)
While Carano says she doesn't really care what others are saying, I'm sure it will be in the back of her mind when she takes on Kaitlin Young in front of a possible audience of millions Saturday night.
There's nothing wrong with a little added motivation to try to "Crush" your opponent.
Update 6 p.m.: If Gina is hoping to make a good impression this week, things did not start out well at Friday's weigh-ins. Carano, who was contracted to fight at 140 pounds, hit the scale at 144.5 pounds. Since the bout is not a title fight, it will be allowed to take place. Young, meanwhile, weighed in 0.5 pounds over, but that is allowable in a non-title bout. According to MMAjunkie.com, both fighters were aware that Carano would be over weight before the weigh-ins, and a percentage of Carano's purse, in the neighbourhood of 12.5 per cent, was awarded to Young. You know the organization could not afford to have this fight dropped.
Update 1 p.m. Saturday: UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture, who helps train Carano, commented to me on Saturday morning at the opening of his new gym in Toronto about Carano missing weight: "She’s struggled with the weight issue in all of her fights," Couture said. "She cuts down from 165 pounds to make the 140 weight class that they’ve fashioned for EliteXC. So it was unfortunate she got all the way down to four pounds over and felt like she was dried out, she couldn’t get any more water right out of her. She’ll be fine basically. And Kaitlin Young is a competitor, she wants to fight anyway regardless of the four pounds. It’s one of the ongoing issues we have with Gina, as talented as she is, sometimes getting her to the gym and getting the work ethic part of it is a struggle. She’s coming off the Gladiator second seasson, which was a distraction for her, and I’m hoping all of those things don’t affect her in the fight tonight, but we’ll see."
For a good article on the personal side of Gina Carano, check out this article by Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports. And of course Carano isn't the only one on Saturday's card who has faced a share of criticism. Kevin Ferguson, aka Kimbo Slice, will be out to prove he is more than just an internet streetfighter. For more on him, check out Neil Davidson's Canadian Press article.
Finally, if you are unable to watch the EliteXC show on CBS Saturday, Sportsnet.ca will have live fight-by-fight results starting at 7 p.m./ET here.
