Gina Carano reveals UFC tried to bankroll lawsuit and steal her from Strikeforce
Gina Carano speaks during the Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) and Netflix 5X5 Professional MMA bound pre-fight press conference outside the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, on March 10, 2026. Rhonda Rousey will face off against Gina Carano on May 16, 2026. Both fighters will be returning after lengthy retirements.
(Photo by Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images) | AFP via Getty Images Ronda Rousey will go down in the history books for kicking open the door for WMMA in the UFC. She was the one that convinced the UFC to buy out rival promotion Strikeforce to get at her contract and swap Rousey into their promotion, adding multiple women’s divisions after UFC president Dana White said he’d never have women fighting there.
But according to Gina Carano, “Conviction” would have been first had she said yes to a questionably ethical and possibly illegal offer that White and former UFC owner Lorenzo Fertitta threw her way back in 2009. “Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta, before the Cyborg fight but it had been announced, they had me come in to their old school office and sat me down,” Carano said on the Jaxxon Podcast. “And they’re like, ‘Look, we’d love for you to come over to the UFC and we can get you out of your contract.
’ I think based on possible steroid use, maybe? And they were willing to fund the lawsuit against Strikeforce and everything to get me to go over there. ” Gina Carano said that before fighting Cris Cyborg, Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta met with her and offered to help her leave Strikeforce for the UFC, possibly over steroid concerns, and even fund a lawsuit.
pic. twitter. com/6B3DHSXCrK — Jed I.