After her return to the boxing ring lasted just 17 seconds, controversial boxer-turned-actor Gina Carano was left wanting more.
“I wanted that to last longer — I felt like I was so ready, I felt so good,” Carano, 44, said during an in-ring interview following her loss to Ronda Rousey on Saturday night in Inglewood, Calif., according to AFP. “But I haven’t been here for 17 years. I wanted to hit her. Right now, just getting in the cage was a victory, getting here after 17 years is a victory. Fighting a legend was a victory. I feel great, I just wanted to fight, and I didn’t get to do that.”
Rousey had also taken a break of nearly 10 years in between MMA events, but the pair descended on the ring — headlining the card for the fights broadcast on Netflix.
But just seconds into the fight, Rousey had already positioned herself to win.
She delivered her signature armbar move, forcing Carano — whose last fight occurred in August 2009, when she lost to Cris Cyborg by TKO and retired — to tap and signal the end of the fight.
“You changed my world and we changed the world,” Rousey told Carano during an interview in the ring following the fight, according to USA Today. “And I will never, ever forget. I will never be able to pay you back enough. But I’m so glad we got to share this moment.”
Carano shifted into acting following her retirement and launched that portion of her career with a role in “Haywire,” but she was fired from “The Mandalorian” in 2021 following controversial social media posts.
