'My heart is heavy': Gina Carano issues first comments after stunning 17-second loss to Ronda Rousey
Gina Carano broke her silence nearly 48 hours after her return from a 17-year MMA retirement ended in just 17 seconds.
Nearly 48 hours after her return from a 17-year MMA retirement ended in just 17 seconds , Gina Carano issued her first remarks on her much-anticipated dance with Ronda Rousey . In a lengthy post on Instagram, Carano, 44, acknowledged that her “heart is heavy” after failing to perform up to expectations against the UFC Hall of Famer. “I wanted throw, battle, win, but I kicked when I should have moved and was down and done,” Carano wrote.
“If I hadn’t tapped she would’ve broken my arm, as it had begun to crackle. The disappointment of losing like that is very humbling. ” For Carano (7-2), this past weekend was a moment nearly two decades in the making.
A trailblazer for women's MMA, Carano was the biggest star the women’s side of the sport had produced prior to Rousey's arrival in the UFC in 2013. Carano and Julie Kedzie competed in the first-ever women's fight televised on Showtime in 2007, then two years later she made history again, becoming the first woman alongside Cris Cyborg to headline a major MMA event with their Strikeforce featherweight championship bout. Afterward Carano retired from cage-fighting and transitioned into acting, only to be brought back into the fold at Rousey’s invitation for Netflix’s big MMA debut.
Notably, Carano revealed pre-fight that she lost 100 pounds over a span of 20 months to get ready for the Rousey bout. Carano teased the idea of another MMA bout in the immediate aftermath of her loss on Saturday; on Monday, she reiterated that possibility. “Now I feel like this is just the beginning,” Carano wrote.