With constant speculation over the past few months that Gina Carano will be signing with the UFC, Ronda Rousey has stated that she's more than willing to fight the former Strikeforce star. The UFC women's bantamweight champion has even left the door open to meeting Carano at featherweight, where Carano spent her entire mixed martial arts career.
Rousey is actually familiar with the featherweight division, as she started her career competing at 145 pounds before dropping down to the lighter weight class where she's seen incredible success. She said in the past that she would be willing to move up to meet Carano, but it looks like that won't be necessary.
"She's been the one insisting on fighting at 135, so yeah, I would love to fight her at 135," Rousey said in an interview with Bloody Elbow. "I prefer that, definitely. I feel like there's where I'm at my athletic peak. I walk into the Octagon around 148, and I usually walk around at 150."
Carano struggled to make the 145-pound limit at times when she was in Strikeforce and she hasn't fought in over five years since pursuing a career as an actress. Carano is now 32 years old, so it's hard to imagine that she won't have any issues cutting weight to 135 pounds. But Rousey doesn't seem concerned, calling Carano "the worst style matchup for me."
"One of the reasons why I've been so excited to fight her," Rousey said. "Was because she has that feeling of distance, and that feeling of timing, and mobility to put those touches in her punches where she has that one punch knockout power."
Always looking to challenge herself, Rousey said the fact that Carano has knockout power is the main reason she's looking forward to fighting her.
"I think styles do make fights, and style wise, Gina is the absolute worst match up for me," she said. "That's why I've been wanting to fight her for a while, because she could be one of my biggest challenges."
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