Dana White Interested In Gina Carano

Never say never, fight fans... not even when the president of the promotion says never.

In a recent turn of events that no one could have seen coming, Dana White has reportedly relayed to reporters of the Canadian Press at a recent Q&A session in Toronto that he’s actually interested in having Female Mixed Martial Artist Gina Carano come onboard and fight for Zuffa’s World Extreme Cagefighting promotion. This is a complete 180 degree turn in contrast to his stance on women's MMA just a few short weeks ago.

"I'm not a huge fan of women fighting, period. Not to say that I don't acknowledge that there are amazing female athletes out there in every sport,” Dana explains. “I just think right now we had a hard enough time getting over the stigma of the men."

Gina Carano’s fight with Kaitlyn Young drew record ratings, and this fight combined with her fight against Kelly Kobold drew a total in excess of 10 million viewers. While Dana has stood fast by his claim that he’d never promote women’s MMA in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, he’s apparently shown a willingness to reconsider that stance for the sake of boosting the WEC’s stock in a market full of competitors.

"Gina Carano is a star, I think she's talented. I think she's got all the tools,” says White, as he clearly recognizes the marketability of Carano, and the headlines this would make. “So what I'm willing to do is bring Gina into the WEC. We could do fights whenever there's a challenger for Gina. That's how I'll test the waters and see how it goes."

Dana’s logical argument against promoting MMA, presented recently when pressured indirectly about offering more of a reason than personal preference, leaned toward the lack of a substantial female MMA talent pool. Elite XC’s sudden implosion left fight fans eagerly awaiting a Christiane Evangelista vs. Gina Carano match-up, with little idea of where it might take place. This sudden advancement is huge news for the Women’s MMA community, as EliteXC stood alone as the lone female-friendly fight organization as of the time of their dissemination.

A deal here would assure that she stays on live television where she can draw ratings, offering the WEC a welcome ratings boost, and giving fans more incentive to buy Versus as part of their premium cable TV / new satellite TV packages.

Please Share!

Syndicate