Gina Carano in Dublin, Ireland for filming of
“Knockout”.

credit: unbreakable

Seems Gina and I have this in common…

Fear not ladies and gentleman (mostly gentleman), Carano hasn’t been taken to another planet, nor is she the victim of some horrific act by a less than balanced fan.

Hollywood has taken up the time of many fighters within the sport of mixed martial arts and Carano just happens to be one of them.

Ryan Couture, son of UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture, was able to shed some insight yesterday via email when he wrote, “I saw Gina briefly over the holidays and it sounds like she’s been working long days in preparation for her upcoming film role.”

Hollywood seems to wear out even the most conditioned of athletes. The time spent preparing for a fight is grueling, to say the least, but let’s not take anything away from the hours spent working in front of the camera.

“It won’t be until shooting wraps on that project that she’ll be able to shift her focus back to fighting,” Couture continued. “At the time that I spoke to her she didn’t have a timeframe [for a return] in mind, but did mention that she missed training and was eager to get back to it.”

To read more:

‘Knockout’, a new feature film to be directed by Steven Soderbergh (Ocean’s Thirteen, Erin Brockovich) will start a three week shoot in and around Dublin and Wicklow next month. The film which was written specifically for Dublin will feature an A-list cast including Ewan McGregor (The Men Who Stare at Goats), and IFTA nominee, Michael Fassbender (Fish Tank).

US stars Dennis Quaid (The Day After Tomorrow) and Michael Douglas (The Game) are also in talks to star in the film which will mark the debut of martial arts expert Gina Carano.

‘Knockout’ tells the story of Mallory Kane, a young, tough, beautiful freelance covert operative, played by Carano. She is hired out by her handler to various global entities to perform jobs which governments can’t authorize and heads of state would rather not know about. For all her looks and youth, Mallory is still the best in her field, and her skills are in constant demand. After a mission to rescue a hostage in Barcelona, Mallory is quickly dispatched on another mission to Dublin. There she partners with another operative, the suave and debonair Paul.

When the operation goes awry and Mallory finds she has been double crossed, she needs to use all of her skills, tricks and abilities to escape an international manhunt, make it back to the United States, protect her family, and exact revenge on those that have betrayed her. Fassbender will be a member of her commando spy unit, and a potential candidate for Kane’s betrayer. McGregor is set to play the owner of the private military company who Mallory works for. The film will also shoot on location in New Mexico, Turkey and Barcelona. Read more of the story »

Gina came in at #68 in the “Top 99 Most Desirable Women of 2010 list by askmen.com
Why She’s No. 68

Imagine starting up a conversation with a woman in a bar only to have her respond to the inevitable “So what to you do?” with “I’m a professional mixed martial arts fighter.” Gina Carano, known by many as the “Face of Women’s MMA,” started her fighting career by training in Muay Thai and won her first MMA match by submission against Tonya Evinger by using a rear naked choke. As sexy as “rear naked choke” sounds, rest assured, you don’t want to get on Gina’s bad side (which is why you probably voted for her this year to bump her up from her No. 73 ranking on our Top 99 list last year). If you saw her on a recent cover for ESPN the Magazine’s Body Issue, you know that the girl packs serious punch, quite literally. But the ring and magazine covers aren’t the only places where you can see this femme fatale; look for her in Steven Soderbergh’s upcoming spy thriller Knockout. Hey, if the director can find raw talent in the likes of fellow Top 99er Sasha Grey, we’re curious to find out how Carano will flex her acting muscle.

Source: Askmen.com

Thanks GinaFan1

Strikeforce has released never before seen photos of Gina during a photo shoot. Check em out!

[View with PicLens]

Gina secured #9 on the list. For the rest of the top 10 visit Sherdog.com

9. Gina Carano (2007-Present)

Not women’s MMA, but Gina Carano. An important distinction.

Prior to Carano’s EliteXC debut in 2007, the idea of hosting female fighters was seen as too absurdly progressive for a sport that still nauseated a good portion of mass media. If they couldn’t accept men exchanging blood, observers figured, seeing a woman mounted and pummeled might be cause for a defibrillator.

“Conviction” — the daughter of football great Glen Carano — rejected that sexist attitude not by challenging it, but by ignoring it. She conducted herself as a fighter, displaying sharp skills in the ring and presenting herself as an articulate personality outside of it. Her looks? Absolutely a factor, but curiosity would’ve quickly given way to disgust if she had nothing to offer as an athlete.

It’s rare for any sports figure to have the weight of an entire genre on their shoulders. Even Ali, in rewriting boxing’s history, was still toiling in an institution that had a past before him and would have a future after him. But try to find even one piece about the females of the sport without a mention of Carano. She didn’t just define a division: She was the division.