MMA Worldwide

Not Just Another Pretty Face

Posted by Adam Villarreal on the 30 April 2009 | No Comments

“What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!” It’s safe to say this phrase only applies to the people who fly in every year hoping to cash in on a fortune, happily disrupting the monotony of their daily lives. But outside of the glitz and decadence live real people living real lives. Like any place on the map, there is a grind fueled by those trying to make it and succeed in their respective fields. Enter Gina Carano.

Born in the midst of a Texas tornado and bearing the pedigree of having a former Dallas Cowboy football player as a father (Glen Carano), Gina flourished in your standard childhood activities like dance and gymnastics. Upon her parents divorce, she made the journey with her mother and two sisters to Las Vegas where her star would soon be discovered in the Muay Thai, and ultimately MMA world. There’s no doubt that Gina is carving and scarring her way in the fight world, but her life off the mat definitely has everyone wondering what she’s like when the gloves come off.

“I’ve been a serious tomboy my whole life. While my sisters were getting dressed up like ballerinas and pirates, I was dressing like a little football player,” she said of her natural progression into a male-dominated sport. Even with regards to the new home she just purchased, she’s hoping to make it a playground for boys and girls alike. “I would want my house to be the toy and maybe put a moto cross track around it for some dirt bikes and four wheelers, and also a movie theater since I absolutely love losing myself in a movie. I just moved in here, and it’s awesome!”

Her career still budding and youthful, it will possibly lead her into something different later in life, as she has expressed a deep and keen interest in the arts such as writing and music. “I love art. Anything from old to modern to graphic art, I just love. Especially when it is hand-made for me. In this new house, I will definitely be having a little art room for myself, with art pieces and writings, with photography and sculptures. Anything that I feel is remotely artistic, I will put in that room. It will be the 'get away from life' room. I also love to write poems, but I call them songs. One day, sooner than later, I will be getting more involved in some way with music. I always wanted to play the drums, so when I was 15, my mom got me a drum set. I started taking lessons, but got too involved with school and sports.

But for now in the house, it will just be my babies and I living here, and we are a wonderful trio! Their names are Gotti and Layla, two pitbulls who are exactly like me; they need more discipline in their life, they rebel against abused power, they’re easily taught when intentions are right, they’re playful but perfectly capable of taking care of business if it calls for it, they love to be loved, they love to love...and they’re extremely protective of the people they love."

She is certainly beginning to enjoy the fruits of her labor. Starting her career with famed Thai coach Master Toddy in Las Vegas, Gina starred in a reality movie called Ring Girls, which followed her and four other female kickboxers through grueling workouts in the states and in Thailand. Beginning June 2006, Gina began competing in MMA and has won all three of her matches thus far, including a TKO over previously undefeated Rosi Sexton. With the new deal recently inked with Showtime’s Elite Xtreme Combat, Gina's fighting career is about to hit the mainstream. If she had not become a fighter, Gina says she would have entered the psychology field with hopes to help motivate people (particularly children) in their lives.

“I was really enjoying learning about psychology. I would like to do something with helping and inspiring people. That might sound stupid or like the ‘correct’ answer, but it’s really the way I was raised. My sister had a really bad drug addiction and my family went through a whole phase of that, so I was looking into doing something that would help drug addicts utilizing psychology and go from there. I just would like to find a way to get kids more motivated in their lives. That kind of stuff is fun to me.”

Like any girl, Gina likes to have fun and be around people who mold her into the positive woman she’s become. At age 24, she’s already feeling the beckoning of motherhood and the trials of relationships. She recently stepped out of an engagement six months ago with Muay Thai fighter Kit Cope, who will be fighting Rob McCullough for the vacant WEC lightweight belt this month. “I’m calming down from dating or I should say serious relationships. I’ve had two serious relationships in the last six years. I’m looking to enjoy myself and focus on what I want to do in my career. It’s funny, since I’ve hit 24, I feel the best thing in the world would be to have kids, but I don’t want that for awhile. I want to fight and enjoy myself, so that way, when I’m ready to settle down and have kids, I can put my energy into that. I’m not going to lie; I do want kids and this has all been in the recent year. If you would have asked me this two years ago, I would have told you, ‘Hell No!’ Right now I’m getting my priorities straight, so maybe in five years or so.”

Her schedule and recent victories don’t afford her the time for motherhood, though they definitely give her a reason to celebrate and enjoy her success. “I like to have fun, I’m not going to lie. I’m just going to say that I am a different kind of Vegas girl. I like to have fun, but going clubbing is only fun occasionally. It gets old pretty fast, but I do like to hang out and meet new people. I love to watch live music, and I am not one of those judgmental music people who know every popular artist. I just like what I like. I used to go to punk shows in high school. I got kicked out of Pennywise, crowd-surfed my first time at Lagwagon, and don't even remember what happened in Guttermouth, but those were some good times. Now I listen to more alternative rock, and recently, I am really feeling Three Days Grace.”

In addition to her music and concert going, Gina explains that vacationing is the best remedy from fighting and life in general. Like so many people, she finds it important to step away and get back to the things that make her happy. “My perfect summer would be to hit Lake Tahoe as much as possible and stay on the lake. I’d wake up and go have breakfast across the lake, come back, hop on a jet ski, go play some beach volleyball, and then have some lunch and hang out and watch some fireworks on the beach at night. San Diego is the place we go to hang out at the beach, and we love it there.” She adds, “The perfect winter for me would be to make as many snowboarding trips as possible. You can't beat hanging out with your friends and packing up the car, not caring what you look like, and having fun snowboarding during the day, hanging out all night, just to start all over again the next day.”

Her athleticism shines through in her professional and personal life, but she also has a strong heart that puts people first. She’s moved by acts of goodness and by the best intentions of people and sometimes strangers. She generally defines success as being able to look back and be happy about what you’ve done and where you’ve been and being able to be proud of it all.

“If I get 15 minutes of the world listening to me, I just honestly want to share God with them. I feel that people like Britney Spears and Paris Hilton get famous and get followed around by cameras and all they have to do is look into the camera and be an inspiration by saying or doing something with meaning. I’m sure that maybe they have before and they’ve just received bad reps or whatever, but I get so angry because they’ve had all this time to make a difference or talk to people who are looking at them, and you never see that. If I could, I would tell people to stay true to themselves and find their light in this world. I know it sounds fake and maybe it’s why people don’t say stuff like this, but if we were all just better people and better individuals and worked on making ourselves better, maybe things would get better.

If you haven't figured it out yet, I am a dreamer and I live in my head. I have found that dreaming is one thing that is mine and no one elses. I think people try to destroy each other’s dreams all the time and most people let it happen, but when you stop and think about it, those dreams are yours and who's to tell you they aren't? Fighting has inspired my dreams, and now I think exactly like I did when I was a little girl because I believe that the reason I am doing what I love to do now is because I believed in it so much when I was younger. So if I keep dreaming now, I will be saying the same thing when I am 40 and so on.”

With her family and dogs as her biggest fans, Gina is moving onward and upward in the sport of MMA and most importantly, her personal life. She definitely bears the genetics and knows how to start the next generation of MMA fighters coming out of Las Vegas; either that or live the simple life with a husband and a few kids and dogs running around. Either way, you can watch her kick ass on February 10th on Showtime’s Elite Xtreme Combat where Renzo Gracie will battle Frank Shamrock. For details, visit www.sho.com, and www.elitexc.com for times in your area.

www.ginacarano.com (Under Construction)

www.mastertoddy.com