From MMAWEEKLY.COM
Women’s mixed martial arts has hit the main stages of many promotions of late and the biggest star on the female MMA scene is Las Vegas native Gina “Conviction” Carano. Carano is set to return to action for EliteXC against Tonya Evinger.
Carano’s celebrity has grown in leaps and bounds over the past few months after putting on arguably the most exciting fight at EliteXC’s debut show, appearing on the Oxygen network’s Fight Girls show and being seen in numerous magazines all over the world.
Now, Gina Carano returns to fighting in Hawaii tonight and she is ready for the bout right now.
Friendly and gracious at all times, Carano, along with EliteXC, have set up the 25-year-old to be a superstar in the sport of MMA.
“We said from the very beginning that our intention was to make Gina Carano the face of women’s mixed martial arts and so far she has done nothing to dispel that notion,” EliteXC Live Events President Gary Shaw stated about Carano. “If anything, she has exceeded all expectations.”
While the attention is well deserved for Carano, many of the other women fighting in MMA feel they have something to prove and a win over her would boost them to similar status in EliteXC.
Tonya Evinger has apparently already had a few words for the Master Toddy trained Muay Thai fighter, but Carano doesn’t plan on backing down in the fight.
“I know she’s got a big mouth,” said Carano about Evinger. “She talks a little bit, she told me to get a good look at my face in the mirror before the fight because I’m not going to look that way afterwards. She’s a wrestler and she’s got heavy hands. I think it’s going to be a tough fight, but I’d really like to just destroy her.”
Outside of training with striking experts at Master Toddy’s gym in Las Vegas, Carano has been training full time at Xtreme Couture.
Randy Couture recently defended his UFC heavyweight title, defeating Gabriel Gonzaga, and it was this kind of performance that inspires Carano in her own career.
“That was amazing to me actually,” Carano stated about Couture’s fight. “I didn’t know him before when I saw him fight, and then when I saw him fight live, I was nervous for him knowing him as a person, but to watch him just completely do his thing in there, gave me confidence that no matter how people build you up or whatever, you just fight how you know how to fight and you’ll succeed.”
The training at Xtreme Couture has also made Carano a more well-rounded fighter and the camp has become a hot bed for the top fighters in the world to go there.
“It’s been great,” said Carano about training at Xtreme Couture. “Being around all of the other guys has been completely inspiring and I don’t know, I think it’s just made me tougher going over there.”
Many already look up to Carano for her fight style and looks that follow, but she stays grounded and very humble about all the attention.
“I think it’s great for females and for the sport in general,” Carano said. “I just want to have a good fight and perform good.”
Once the hype and attention die down, Carano is at heart simply a fighter and she will get a chance to ply her craft at Elite XC in Hawaii this Saturday against Tonya Evinger.
