Gina Carano’s long journey back to MMA ended in just 17 seconds after she was submitted by Ronda Rousey in their main event fight, but she’s not walking away with her head down.
Despite the result, Carano got in great shape, including dropping 100 pounds before setting foot in the cage for her first fight in 17 years. Unfortunately, Rousey took Carano down in the opening exchange and latched onto the fight-finishing armbar just a few seconds later.
On Monday, Carano issued her first statement on the loss and the arduous path she walked just to get ready for a fight again.
“This was one of the best rides of my life,” Carano wrote on Instagram. “I felt locked in fight night. No fear just focused positive adrenaline. Love to my team.
“My heart is heavy, I wanted to throw, battle, win, but I kicked when I should have moved and was down and done. 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.”
Afterwards, Carano revealed that she spoke to former two-division UFC champion Jon Jones, who was in attendance for the fights on Saturday, and he offered some perspective on her performance.
“Jon said, ‘You haven’t fought in 17 years? Do you know how big your balls have to be to get back in there after that long? Did you set some sort of record or something? Respect!’ Carano said. “That’s exactly what I needed to hear from the best to ever to do it.”
Beyond losing weight for the fight, Carano also had to get back into a training camp for the first time since 2009, and that required a lot of hard work and perseverance. She called upon the coaches at Syndicate MMA in Las Vegas to get her ready, and Carano spent a lot of time there preparing for the eventual showdown against Rousey.
None of it was easy, but just getting ready for the fight may have been as big an accomplishment for Carano as actually winning.
“I’ve been in a caloric deficit for a year, training felt like swimming as hard as I could upstream,” Carano said. “I can count on two hands the number of times I felt good training. It was physically the hardest thing I’ve ever done taking the weight off while turning back into an athlete. I felt like a science experiment losing 100 pounds. Every week the pressure of how to get that little bit off. I learned a little late how to do it healthier but trial by fire.
“The California Athletic Commission is great and one of the strictest in the world. They weighed me a week and a half before the fight, extra tests and scans, multiple drug tests. We weighed in and they weighed us the night of the fight to make sure we complied with the rehydration rules, which I passed all easily. I needed to go through this fight to implement permanent lifestyle changes and now I feel like this is just the beginning. I can’t wait to see where I can push my body to go next.”
Following the loss, Carano didn’t shut the door on fighting again, and she praised MVP co-founders Jake Paul and Nakisa Bidarian for how she was treated and the overall show that aired on Netflix.
She also praised Rousey after working closely with her to book this fight and then pull it off on Saturday in California.
“I’m so glad the world got to experience this version of Ronda Rousey,” Carano said. “I found a beautiful woman, wife, mother, daughter, sister and legend. I adore you lady.
“We made history, again. I hope Most Valuable Promotions MMA [and] Netflix continue on because they CRUSHED it. Respect where respect is due. It was such a great experience. “Thank you ALL for showing your support. It’s because of you we get to face our fears and live our dreams.”