Dana White willing to 'test the waters' with Gina Carano in the WEC
by Jesse Holland on Nov 19, 2008 1:25 PM EST
65 comments
UFC President Dana White has continued to soften his stance about promoting a possible fight using former Elite XC female superstar and butt-kicking heartthrob Gina "Conviction" Carano (7-0).
Just don’t expect it to take place in the hallowed Octagon. If it were to happen under his watch, White says, it would more than likely take place under the Zuffa-owned World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) banner.
Here’s what he said at Monday's Q & A in Toronto :
" Gina Carano is a star, and I think she's talented. I think she has all the tools, so what I'm willing to do is bring Gina into the WEC. We could do fights whenever there's a challenge for Gina. That's how I'll test the waters and see how it goes ."
That’s clearly not an all-out guarantee. However, it is a marked change in tone from just two weeks ago. Here’s what he had to say then:
"Gina Carano’s a talented fighter, she’s a star. She should’ve been the main event (on CBS’ last EliteXC broadcast). My thing with women and fighting is there isn’t enough good women to create a whole division. Could I do some one-off fights here and there? Yeah, but that’s not really what we do."
It’s an intriguing development to say the least. Perhaps White — who has historically gone on record saying he does not personally like to see women beat each other up — is having a change of heart because a match up between Carano and Brazilian rival Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos (6-1) is more than likely a huge money maker.
In fact, the WEC has designs on making its pay-per-view (PPV) debut sometime in 2009. And what better way to increase interest (and PPV buys) than putting a fight together than fans are eager to see, were told they were going to see, and then had it disappear before their very eyes when Elite XC closed its doors.
Remember, too, the Carano is very close with UFC Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture and his wife Kim, training full-time at the X-Treme Couture facility in Las Vegas, Nevada.
There is also that ugly issue with Affliction’s now-exiled Todd Beard and the Couture’s, suggesting that a fight between Carano and Cyborg would now be highly unlikely under the Affliction MMA brand because of the tensions between the parties.
Therefore, White more than likely has the upper hand, as well as the financial and television resources, to ensure that this blockbuster showdown is indeed just that.
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lol, are you guys more interested in woman’s mma or an average looking woman fighting? I just don’t get what you guys are in to?!
by kevin on Nov 19, 2008 1:32 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Im not interested in Womans MMA! But a Carano fight every now and then in the WEC is good right?
by JV on Nov 19, 2008 2:44 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
I actually like the women’s mma. I like to sometimes ponder if I can kick that girl’s ass or not.
by c-war on Nov 19, 2008 2:53 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Kevin “lol,are you guys more interested in woman’s mma or an average looking woman fighting?I just don’t get what you guys are into!” I don’t get what this Kevin is into other than trying to sound like an arrogant know it all jackass.As if he’s hanging out with supermodels all day.Guys who talk like that usually still lives with mom.He probably wouldn’t know what to do with Gina Carano anyway.
by Robert on Nov 19, 2008 8:16 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
crap, I’ve been found out, I got to change my name on here so you can’t poke fun anymore, and so my mom doesn’t find out what I’m using her internet connection for!
by kevin on Nov 19, 2008 11:22 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Ha, evereyone calls upon Kein lol
by SoCalStunNa on Nov 19, 2008 11:45 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
you might be wondering who “kein” is
*Kevin
by SoCalStunNa on Nov 19, 2008 11:46 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
No!!!
She needs money! Get her to shoot in playboy, THEN! we’ll talk WEC
by mikeybear on Nov 19, 2008 1:34 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Gina is popular but that has to do more with sex appeal then fighting. I don’t think women’s MMA is that popular. Gina has gotten the exposure because she did American Gladiators and CBS put her on the main card of a couple free shows.
I don’t think she could sell many ppvs. I watch women’s MMA when it’s free, there is no way I’m shelling out my ppv money to watch women’s mma.
by RealDrew on Nov 19, 2008 1:47 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
she would be a nice addition to a ppv vs cyborg, or a nice addition to the wec against other girls. she is very marketable. BOOBIES!
by b.w. on Nov 19, 2008 1:52 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
US women’s MMA scene kinda sucks. All the p4p best are in japan except for LaRosa. Even the shitty pro wrestlers have a very high grappling/shooting acumen so they make entertaining fights. Here there are like 6 girls that fight each other over and over and the rest are all one time 0-1er’s.
by NameNotRequired on Nov 19, 2008 2:26 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
B.W.~ that P4P thing… that was Sugar Ray Robinson correct??
by Crowls on Nov 19, 2008 11:45 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
“couldn’t see many ppv’s.” could a woman’s match sell any ppv’s? I wouldn’t buy it if that was the main event! A non title match like bisping/leban is a tough sell, never mind a woman’s fight!
by kevin on Nov 19, 2008 1:52 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Hell no it wouldnt sell!!! But for free on VS is good right? And its not like she will be in every event!
by JV on Nov 19, 2008 2:45 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
It would never be a main event in the UFC or even a Co-Main event in the UFC, Dana ment that out of the fights offered on that EliteXC card the Gina fight should have been the main event, in otherwords hes calling that card and the fighters on it crap. Gina could easily “help” with PPV buys without a doubt, if she was on one or two main cards i wouldnt complain, in the WEC or UFC, give her 3 fights a year against no chumps to be sure they are good fights, and out of the many UFC/WEC cards to choose from now a days im sure you can spare 15 minuts every 4 months for Gina, no? She brings some fans and could start a new base for the UFC, you have to be new and inovative in the entertainment business, someone will eventually capitalize on this the right way, most likely the UFC/WEC will do it in a way that is successful. But main event status . . .who said that??? Like i said, TUF show it and see what kind of fan base it draws then go from there.
by ( (AdamG ) ) on Nov 19, 2008 3:34 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Not to mention the more hotties getting interested in this sport the better, a girl that knows MMA is beyond HOT. The ones that are all “eww, oh my god, ewwwww!” are good for nothings, well not nothing . . . BOOBIES!
by ( (AdamG ) ) on Nov 19, 2008 3:37 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
I’m sick of the “co main event” b.s. Florian/stevenson was a main card fight, period. I’m sick of the 2nd to last fight always being billed the co main event. The main event is it, no co!
by kevin on Nov 19, 2008 3:37 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Well the only problem with all that is if Cyborg demolish’s Gina, then her stock goes up and Carano’s takes a hit. I think Carano is obviously more marketable, but if you look at the two Cyborg is a beast of a woman
by O damn he got caught on Nov 19, 2008 4:05 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
ok, oh and heres some cheese and crackers . . .
by ( (AdamG ) ) on Nov 19, 2008 4:06 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
They’ll compliment that wine of yours very well = )
by ( (AdamG ) ) on Nov 19, 2008 4:07 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
True. If Cyborg wins she is not at all marketable. I don’t think a good female fighter has to be as hot as Gina(boobies!)to be marketable, but Cyborg looks like she is hung like John Holmes.
by naturalshadow on Nov 19, 2008 5:13 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
what am I crying over adam? I find it funny how much you guys are into women fighting!
by kevin on Nov 19, 2008 5:34 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
i wonder if she’ll have to deep throat dana before he’ll let her fight in his org.
by deuce 4 on Nov 19, 2008 5:52 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
I agree with Dana too…….i wanna test Gina Carranos waters!!!
by The 5th Beatle on Nov 19, 2008 1:29 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
NICE! Get it done Dana!!! Once women see that this opportunity is available for them more talented ones will come out of the woodwork, they just dont know its out there as a real career option. PLUS im sure when the ones that dont consider fighting professionaly an option now, will eventually. Do a TUF show for female fighters or something, somthing to get women excited to try this sport out with Gina as the super hot spokeswomen leading the charge = )
by ( (AdamG ) ) on Nov 19, 2008 1:44 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
a women’s TUF season would be pretty interesting, i’d watch it.
by kitsunex on Nov 19, 2008 2:51 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
maybee gina and cyborg could be the coaches after bisping/hendo. it could happen. :)
by b.w. on Nov 19, 2008 3:08 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
an entire season of female mma? would the ratings hold?
by O damn he got caught on Nov 19, 2008 4:09 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
O NM, I would def tune in for the drunk episode where they all strip down and get into a pillow fight. YEA
by O damn he got caught on Nov 19, 2008 4:09 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
We need to test her bath waters! Can we ever get a non-sexual Gina Carano blog? I am not against women fighting just do not want to see hot women fight- unless there is jello involved.
by matt on Nov 19, 2008 1:50 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
I agree, it’s mma not playboy. the cage potato pics were nice, but would you be interested if she weren’t cute?
by kevin on Nov 19, 2008 2:16 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Whats funny is that you’re finaly agreeing with someone . . . who is complaining LoL! Theres no crying in MMA man, knock that sh*t off!!!
by ( (AdamG ) ) on Nov 19, 2008 4:10 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
This is great news as she gives good fights. so do most of the women actually!
by Tony on Nov 19, 2008 1:51 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
She better make weight if she wants to fight in the WEC, either way I’d tap that
by Reether on Nov 19, 2008 2:20 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
This will not work. The only reason there is interest in Carano is because of her looks. Let’s be real….there is no one posting on this blog that would be gung ho for a fight or a women’s division if there was/is no titilation factor (pardon the pun). Would we even be discussing this if it was Cyborg vs. another plain Jane? Interest in Carano may carry one fight, but it doesn’t justify an entire division by any means.
by CL on Nov 19, 2008 2:50 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
true! if she were ugly and even a better fighter, no one would talk about her. it goes that way with all womens sports. think anna kornikova or maria sharapova in tennis or michelle wie and natalie gulbis in golf and danica patrick in auto racing. when it comes to women in sports, looks count for alot.
by b.w. on Nov 19, 2008 3:11 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
she’s the face and future of womans mma, other than uriah and torres, and condit whos a bigger draw in the wec than gina? brock larson, lenard, pulver? nah the wec could use gina in there organazation. also i hope she never does play boy leave that to the wwe girls
by swizz on Nov 19, 2008 3:11 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
I’m sick of the “face of” comments. She’s only the face of women’s mma because she’s cute. Cyborg is the “body” of womens mma! Randy is “the face” of elderly mma. Tito is “the face” of big headed mma.
get the point, it’s just lame!
by kevin on Nov 19, 2008 3:22 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
lmao are you serious, name a more well know mma female fighter….. thats rite there isnt one, and that is why she IS THE FACE of womens mma. and isnt she undefeated? dude what don’t you get about this.
by swizz on Nov 19, 2008 6:26 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
I get it, it’s gay, who cares, did you read my whole post?
by kevin on Nov 19, 2008 6:37 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
I tend to disagree with Dana that there are no good women fighters out there, now what he should say are there are not many well rounded ones. There are plenty of beast ass Mauy Thai women fighters in the world, and there are plenty of BJJ/Judo praticioners who are very good but the problem is that there are not enough women who are trained in both. I think though however that inorder for the true “MMA” women to come to the surface you have to give them an outlet that will encourage the ones who currently only compete in Muay Thai to want to learn some ground game and vice versa
By the way Cyborg is gonna SMASH Carano… Matter afact I wouldn’t mind seeing someone like Anne Wolf get into MMA cause her hands are sick as hell if you teach her alil bit of ground game that would be ideal.
by Tommy Bizarro on Nov 19, 2008 3:25 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
Great as this sounds expect her to make even less then she was making before lol!
by Khaos_Warrior on Nov 19, 2008 3:56 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
I wonder how long itll take for Hugh hefner to give her a call :) may be nice
by hector on Nov 19, 2008 5:17 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
I agree with The 5th beatle test her waters!! ;)
Gina please finish me with a naked triangle choke!!!
by William Blake on Nov 19, 2008 8:02 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
uhm…former heavyweight champion Randy Couture, sad, but writing to the contrary doesn’t change it Jesse.
by sycboi on Nov 19, 2008 8:57 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
i think gina carano be perfect for porn movies period
if u ask me
by rocky on Nov 19, 2008 11:17 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
Ya, well I dont think Gina will be willing to test the waters in the WEC for chump change danas full of shit
Gina vs Santos affliction co-main event on a future card will happen
by dia mette on Nov 20, 2008 1:25 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
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