It’s been nearly 17 years since Gina Carano stepped in the cage but she’ll make that walk again on May 16 against former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey. The two headlined the Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) and Netflix promoted fight card at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California.
After she stepped away from fighting in 2009, Carano saw success in Hollywood, but eventually the roles dried up and she fell into an unhealthy depression. The 44 year-old put on excessive weight and was in a lot of ways spiraling. Then came the offer to return to the cage against “Rowdy.”
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“Everybody around me is just so happy that I’m healthy. I mean, I think I’m healthier now than I was when I was fighting,” Carano told MVP UNCUT. “I kind of like to describe myself as a door opener. I open the door and then people just rush through. And that seems to be a theme in my life. I’m impressed with how far it’s come. It’s so surreal to be able to come back and participate once again. I think once you’re a fighter, you’re always a fighter. It never leaves you and it’s always been in the back of my head.”
Carano has said that having the opportunity to fight again may have ‘saved her life.’ She’s now healthy, in shape, and has regained her fighting mindset.
“I was really not healthy. I was really sick. And I think in life you have a point where you can go left and you can completely give up on yourself and you can let all the stress in life and all the pain and just wear you down and you give up and get depressed and you let go. And there goes your body, there goes your mind, there goes your health,” Carano said.
“I was there. And it’s really hard to turn the corner and go the compete opposition way. I think my family and the people that care about me and the fans that care about me are just happy that I got this back under control. I’m healthy … And I know I wouldn’t have gone as deep into this health journey without this fight.”
“I have an overwhelming good feeling about this,” she said.
