Gina Carano turns 41 – A photo gallery through the years
Gina Carano is considered as one of the early pioneers of women’s mixed martial arts. Born on April 6, 1982, Carano first competed in pro MMA in the now defunct promotion World Extreme Cagefighting in June 2006.
She started her career in the sport of Muay Thai. Her then-boyfriend Kevin Ross, a pro Muay Thai fighter, got her involved. After achieving a Muay Thai record of 12–1–1, Carano received an offer from Jamie Levine to participate in the first-ever sanctioned female MMA bout in Nevada with WEC.
From there, “Conviction” Carano gained popularity while competing for Strikeforce and Elite XC, two promotions that also eventually closed their doors.
Carano’s momentum soared as she was undefeated at 7-0 before running into one of the all-time greats, Cris Cyborg.
Over the year’s interest grew as to “what if” Carano would come back to fight the likes of Ronda Rousey, or even just join the UFC women’s roster. That never came to fruition and her acting career would take off as she landed roles on the silver screen and series such as “The Mandalorian.”
Carano was profiled in a feature story for the ESPN series E:60. She was voted “Hottest Woman In America” by Big Biz Magazine in the Spring 2008 issue. On May 13, 2008, “Gina Carano” was the fastest-rising search on Google and third-most-searched person on Yahoo!, and ranked no. 5 on Yahoo!’s “Top Ten Influential Women of 2008” list.
In May 2009, Carano was ranked no. 16 on Maxim’s Hot 100 list. She is one of the cover athletes along with Serena Williams for the October 19, 2009, edition of ESPN The Magazine’s Body Issue.
She was a nominee for the 2013 Critics Choice Awards for best actress in an action movie for Haywire.
Eventually, Carano’s political views and social media posts caused her significant problems as she became the center of controversy and ended up losing her role in The Mandalorian.
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