Ronda Rousey (Getty Images)
Ronda Rousey doesn’t just talk crap – she talks truth. Which is why the brash queen of the UFC has a lot of complimentary things to say about former women’s MMA star Gina Carano.
The first-ever WMMA bout Rousey watched on television was Carano’s win over Julie Kedzie at an Elite XC event in 2007. That fight was an inspiration to her and eventually led Rousey on the path she’s currently on.
“I would never be an MMA fighter if it wasn’t for [Carano],” Rousey told The Post. “I’m not dumb enough to not be grateful. … I just say thank God for Gina Carano.”
Rousey, now the UFC’s women’s bantamweight champion, said she watched all of Carano’s fights after catching the one against Kedzie.
Carano has not fought since falling to Cris “Cyborg” Santos in Strikeforce back in 2009. Since then, she’s starred in feature films. Carano is tied to a female version of “The Expendables” and is rumored to be a candidate to play Wonder Woman in the forthcoming “Superman” movie. Rousey believes the crossover stardom Carano has achieved is huge for the sport.
“I really think what she’s doing with films is just as much an influence on women’s MMA as her fighting again,” Rousey said. “She’s continuing to represent us very well, bringing women’s MMA to an audience that doesn’t know MMA really at all.”
Rousey, 25, who has movie-star looks, has not ruled out a potential move into films herself someday – but not until her fighting career is over.
“I’m a fighter first,” Rousey said. “I came straight [to this interview] from sparring, not from getting my eye brows done. Once I feel like my fighting career is done, then maybe I’ll go into something else. I really havent gotten hit yet. If it keeps going that way, I can fight until I’m 90.”
If Carano returns to the cage – and she has not completely ruled it out – Rousey said she would definitely fight her, though it would be bittersweet. Rousey says she’s met Carano multiple times and thinks she’s “so sweet.”
“Of course I would [fight her],” Rousey said. “I would just hope that she’d be OK. Obviously, I’d want to win.”
Rousey meets Liz Carmouche for the title next Saturday in the main event of UFC 157. It’ll be the first women’s fight in UFC history. Rousey admits she owes much of that to the pioneering of Carano.
“What she did before me has radically changed my life,” Rousey said.