Gina Carano was rumored to be considering a return to mixed martial arts last summer, and most would agree that the only reason the 33-year-old would return to the Octagon would be to fight Ronda Rousey.
Apparently that fight was pretty close to happening.
Rousey was a guest on “The Joe Rogan Experience” this week, and the UFC women’s bantamweight champion admitted that Dana White made her an offer to fight Carano last December. However, Rousey didn’t want to wait that long between fights and it never came to fruition.
It all started after Rousey defeated Sara McMann in February 2014. White wanted her next fight to be against Carano 10 months later, but Rousey felt she would be better prepared if she had another fight in the meantime.
“We get through the McMann fight and I was going to get my knee and my hand worked on, but then Dana White was like, ‘Listen, you can fight Gina in December,'” Rousey told Rogan. “And I was like, ‘I don’t want to wait until December. I’ll be a better fighter in December if I fight in July. I don’t want to sit and ring-rust for that long.'”
Rousey ended up fighting Alexis Davis in July, and she knocked her out in just 16 seconds. She probably would have been ready for another fight in December, so it’s unclear why the fight with Carano never happened. White confirmed he was in contract talks with Carano last year but said things weren’t going all that smoothly.
Carano hasn’t had a fight in over five years, and we know how at least one fighter feels about her chances against Rousey. There’s no reason to believe Carano could come in cold and beat one of the best fighters in the world, but that apparently wasn’t going to stop White from making it happen.
