UFC News & Notes: Gina Carano Deal Dead, Cat Zingano Gets Next Shot at Ronda Rousey's Title
Any chances of a dream match between Gina Carano and current Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Women's Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey are dim after negotiations with Carano hit a major snag.
"The hardest human being we've ever dealt with and I didn't see it coming," UFC President Dana White said about the negotiations. "I don't know, we'll see how these things play out. Just incredibly difficult. We've dealt with (Brock) Lesnar, Tito (Ortiz). Chuck (Liddell) was [expletive]ing king of the world. Ronda Rousey: We've pretty much done deals with everyone on Earth, and she is the hardest [expletive]ing athlete we have ever dealt with."
Carano (7-1) -- the former Women's Lightweight Champion with Strikeforce before they were bought out by Zuffa LLC, the parent company of UFC -- was a pioneer in women's mix martial arts (WMMA) before leaving the sport in 2009 after losing handily to Cris "Cyborg" Justino.
Since that loss, Carano has pursued a career in Hollywood, having worked with director Steven Soderbergh on the movie "Haywire" and "Fast & Furious 6." Most recently, she was rumored to be signed on to work on "Bus 657," starring Robert De Niro, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Kate Bosworth and former WWE champion Dave Bautista later in 2014, but was also considering a return to WMMA to face Rousey.
Those plans may now be dead as far, as White is concerned.
"The problem is she allows herself to be handled by these Hollywood [expletive]ing idiots," White said. "It's absolutely crazy. We've had all the biggest superstars in the world. You're talking about a girl who hasn't fought in a while. Any time you deal with anyone in [expletive]ing Hollywood it's a joke. It's literally a joke, it's comical. You feel like you're in a 'Saturday Night Live' skit. This can't be [expletive]ing real. In dealing with her people, I don't know if it can be done."
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Rousey, for her part, will not hold a grudge against Carano if the mega-bout fails to materialize despite all the problems with negotiations. Rousey said she respects the decision of someone who she has looked up to her entire career.
"This business isn't perfect," Rousey said during a press junket promoting UFC Fight Night 51 in Brasilia. "And for Gina, no one can want to fight for you. I would never be mad at her for anything. She's pretty flawless in my eyes. She changed my entire life. She inspired me to do what I'm doing now. So if she wanted to never fight again for the rest of her life, I would respect her decision for that because I know what it's like to lose your passion for something, and no one can force you to have that."
With Carano out the picture, Rousey's next opponent will be No.1 contender Cat Zingano, according to White. Zingano was suppose to fight Rousey at UFC 168, but bowed out because of a knee injury. Zingano faces Amanda Nunes Saturday night at UFC 178 and will get her title shot at Rousey should she beat Nunes, currently eighth in the rankings.
Rousey, who wants to defend her title in the co-main event of UFC 182 which will be headlined by UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier, believes she owes Zingano a championship match.
"I promised Cat Zingano. I promised her, 'One day we are going to have the title fight you deserve. I'm going to beat you, but we're going to have it,'" Rousey said. "So I'm still waiting for her, and I would still love to fight Bethe (Correia). I would love to fight Holly Holm that just got signed. There are so many women in the UFC right now."
Rousey also has her eye on the other potential mega-bout widely discussed -- a fight against "Cyborg" Justino, who will make her return to the bantamweight division in December 4th at Invicta FC 10. Justino had previously refused to drop down in weight to face Rousey, but is now in the process of trying to make the fight happen after years of going at each through the media.
"I always knew that she's been able to make the weight. She's the one that went and told everybody that she was going to die and then ran off and is going to go make it anyway," Rousey said.
"So yeah, go ahead. Go down to 135. Work you way over to me. You'll get the beating that you've been deserving all these years. I'm jut getting better and better every day, and I think that she's done so much against the sport when I've done so much to try and build it," Rousey added. "She's not only embarrassed herself, but she's embarrassed her country. She's been a terrible representative, and I can't wait to really give her what's been coming to her."
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