Ronda Rousey On Gina Carano: I’d Show Up At Her House To Fight If She Wanted
UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey is still waiting for her next official opponent to be named. After beating Sara McMann by TKO at UFC 170, ‘Rowdy’ was linked to fights with Alexis Davis, Cris Justino and Gina Carano, but no word yet on who will get the next title shot.
With UFC president Dana White holding a meeting with Gina Carano this week, and all other avenues seemingly closed; it seems ‘Conviction’ is the most likely candidate for the job. MMAMania had the quotes from a recent interview with Rousey regarding Carano:
“I think [Gina Carano getting an immediate title shot] would be the best thing for women’s MMA. I think it would be the highest profile fight that could be done. I don’t think it would make sense for her to come back and fight somebody else and take the risk of maybe losing and not being able to capitalize on the fight between me and her. I think it would make more sense to go straight to a title fight.”
Perhaps in terms of marketing, this fight makes sense. For me, it would be a tall order that I believe Carano could not meet. Although still officially under contract with Zuffa, the motivation clearly hasn’t been there enough for GC to un-retire. That being said, this would be a pretty huge fight.
“She’s one of the pioneers on the sport. She’s the reason I fight at all. You can’t say she’s just coming in off the street. How can you say no to the woman that I owe everything to? I would bend over backward to fight her. I’m not going to make her run through the gauntlet to fight me. I would show up at her house if that’s where she wanted to fight.”
Whether Carano comes back to fight ‘Rowdy’ or not, the UFC needs to get the next contender in line for the bantamweight title shot. She has waited nearly two months for her next opponent to be named, and I hope that talks with GC will clear things up either way.
