Gina Carano hasn’t fought in over a decade, but she won’t rule out a return to the cage if her opponent is Ronda Rousey.
The former Strikeforce and Elite XC star addressed the matchup after Rousey recently said Carano was the only fight that would bring her out of retirement after her last UFC fight in 2016.
“You know what? Just never put it past me,” Carano said when asked about Rousey on FOX News. “It could happen. It would be six months from now because I have a lot of stuff I need to do.”
Carano never formally retired from fighting despite her last appearance in 2009 when she suffered a first-round TKO loss to Cris Cyborg in Strikeforce. Following that fight, she focused on her acting career and landed several high-profile roles in films such as Haywire, Fast and Furious 6 and Deadpool.
In recent years, Carano had a recurring role on the Disney+ Star Wars series The Mandalorian until she made controversial comments on social media that eventually led to her dismissal from the show.
Carano then inked a new development deal with the right-wing website The Daily Wire. She recently starred and produced in her first film for the company, Terror on the Prairie, which co-stars UFC veteran Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone.
Back in 2014, the UFC pursued Carano to join the organization with the prospect of fighting Rousey on the table. But the two sides never came to an agreement, and two years later, Rousey suffered back-to-back losses to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes and left the UFC for a new career in World Wrestling Entertainment.
While Rousey is currently a top star and women’s champion in WWE, she said a chance to face Carano could draw her back into the octagon.
“I will fight Gina wherever she wants,” Rousey told Kurt Angle on his podcast. “Even if she doesn’t want to forever, leave that offer there.
“It’s a respect thing, not like a, ‘F*** you. I’m coming to get you.’ It’s just like, ‘Hey, if you ever wanna pull that card out, it’s there.’ I love her. Thank you Gina for everything you’ve done.”
If a real fight doesn’t happen, Carano seems ready to possibly pursue a scripted showdown, working with Rousey on a future film or television project.
“I really want to create, I want to direct, I want to produce,” Carano said. “I want to give Ronda Rousey a job in one of my movies, so maybe there is something we can do there.”