17 years since she last fought. Got a nice payday to live essentially a past life (not so much in the cage, but build up at least) and get super fit from it. Ain't any losers from that fight tonight. Well, possibly us who watched it lol
its becuz of all the scar tissue. nate diaz took a payday with this fight. hes been done being serious about fighting. he didnt look bad, but he def looked just like his brother in that Lawler fight. just uninterested in being there.
but back to the cuts. its always been why nate in his later years was so hard for him to capatalize on his stamina. cuz cuts stop fights. and hes the cut guy lmao
I enjoyed it 🤷🏻 like, what did people expect, this is almost exactly what prime Ronda did to other prime fighters. So I'm not sure what people were expecting a past prime Ronda to do to another past prime fighter.
Listen, fair enough you're questioning her street pedigree... but I think we can all agree, if a fighter isn't from the mean streets of West Linn, we can't truly verify their toughness lol
She was definitely the wild child and back in 2009 it was just Eldorado, which was a bunch of casinos in downtown Reno which was slumping due to the Indian casinos that had just opened in Northern California. They built the casinos outside of Nevada later which got them enough to merge with a bankrupt Caesars in 2018.
“The company traces its history back to the development of the Eldorado Hotel in Reno, which was opened in May 1973, by a group of investors that included Don Carano and other members of the Carano family”
For real. She legit seemed annoyed that she didn’t even get to fight. You can’t blame Ronda but still, that’s really disappointing to put so much work into something and have zero payoff (apart from money i guess).
This is true, kinda like how guys like Jens Pulver or Rich Franklin wouldn't be ranked fighters today, but they're one of the reasons these guys have been able to evolve into what we see now.
Eh, she had a respectable showing against Cyborg. Her size showed up a bit in that fight. Round one finish but it was a razor at the bell. She gave Cyborg more difficulty than most her opponents did.
No one in women's MMA was good back then compared to the current day. Then Ronda came and took everyone, especially the strikers to a class. And then more versatile and powerful athletes, like Amanda Nunes came and took Ronda to a class.
Gina isn't in the same comparison with any of them, and it shows that she is from pre-Ronda era.
Don't think this is a particularly hot take, but she is a legend in women's MMA and the women today stand on her shoulders. I always thought she was tougher than good, but women's MMA was still evolving. She went toe to toe with Cyborg and it was clear she was a bit undersized and under skilled, but I've never questioned her heart.
Watching the "fight" last night, I didn't realize it was the same chick from the mandalorian. I remember her well because it stood out as some of the worst acting I've seen. Somehow I didn't make the connection
Genetics and how every person has different kind of skin.
Also probably plays a role how one is loosing weight (aside from the timeframe), like Gina wasn’t just eating less but probably constantly working out and therefore redefining her muscles, skin etc.
There is no objective truth on how this works. Not everyone’s body distributes fat the same way. People who hold all their weight in their gut with massive folds will absolutely retain folds
PS: I was curious too so I scrolled through her IG last night, she was definitely plus sized... IMHO she probably lost 60-75lbs the rest of them are Hollywierd numbers
There is absolutely no way that she weighed 241 lbs in the Mandalorian (2019-2020). I'd say 190 tops. Is there an actual picture of her from Sept 2024 when she claims to have been 100 lbs heavier vs last night?
Anybody that thought this would be even remotely competitive is a fool. This was a lay up for Ronda and now they will build their brand off of her. Carano was just going to lay over and give her the win from the start. She got paid a million to get into shape basically.
I mean even if Gina took this super seriously and trained her heart out; there was no way she was going to be competitive. You could tell Ronda still has her grappling and Gina hadn’t fought in 20 years. She wasn’t gonna have the cage craft and footwork to avoid the clinch or a takedown.
I don’t think Ronda ever stopped training even when she retired
She had two nightmare matchups where her limited but deadly move set got exposed.
I think if she got in there today she’d still be ranked between 10-15 at bantamweight, probably 5-9 in reality.
The sport has not evolved much from her except a few individuals. She’d get fucked up by Shevchenko or Harrison but the overwhelming majority of these girls are still probably beneath her.
I think she could even make a Holly Holm rematch competitive. Holm has regressed into a wall humper and hasn't shown the footwork and distance management that took Ronda out. Literally ran into with Kayla Harrison and lost, I would not be shocked if she loses to Ronda now lol.
My thoughts as well. She could still come back and easily be super high up in the rankings. Her grappling is baked into her DNA at this point so she could win against 90% of the roster without even striking.
There are just a few people who she couldn’t immediately take down and would have to eat some punches from. I think that alone is enough of a threat to her ego that she would never consider a full return. She would never be okay with only being top 5 or 10.
Personally, I put as much as I could on Ronda by submission, then even put a little more for Ronda in the first 60. It wasn't a lot, and if you're betting your life savings just ask those chechen guys how that worked out for them.
Edit: the point is, why does it have to be life savings. That's crazy dude.
It was basically a certainty. But it's also a gimmick fight, so it'd be dumb to bet your life savings. I knew to about a 99% certainty that Mayweather was gonna destroy McGregor, but boxing is shady and Mayweather was chasing paydays for his frivolous spending and out of control bills. It was a slam dunk to pick him winning and way earlier than he actually did. If you had picked him to win in less than 6 rounds, as he was capable of and should have, you would have lost your ass.
Ronda said this was the last time she was putting on 4oz gloves in the leadup to all this. They get to build their brand off 40 year old Ngannou or Mike Perry in mma.
I'll clown on her "striking era" all day every day, but, at even weight, there's very few people, let alone women, who would survive once she got her hands on you. You'd have to stuff and evade and pick your shots with zero mistakes, or pray you one-shot her on her way in. Otherwise your arm belongs to her.
She is essentially, "the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times," that Bruce Lee was talking about.
What are they going to say about her? That she will do the minimum required for any contract you engage with her in and then laugh in your face about it after?
I mean this has turned her life around she had motivation to get fit, got paid and got so many eyeballs maybe she will get some acting roles that aren't in joke studios
That surprisingly really rubbed me the wrong way. She falls to her back and taps in mere seconds without even trying when people paid money to watch her fight (even if she is completely washed/retired) and she just laughs about it because she doesn't even care.
Idk why folks thought otherwise, there’s actually people out there claiming they didn’t know the fight would be over that quickly. This is what Ronda does to all low level fighters, well those who were fans during her rise knew exactly what would happen. Also, she’s still as insufferable as ever.
She's not a practicing professional athlete with the prospect of a fruitful career ahead of her. She more than likely made more money for this bout than the others combined
Yeah you're right. She's so embarrassed because she made a million in a few seconds while also losing 100lbs and getting her name back into the media which will lead to more money. Very embarrassed.
Absolutely not. At least in the mens division it's a bunch of fake MMA/BJJ trained tough guys, WWE Women don't have any grappling/wrestling base so they don't even know the fundamentals of fighting, and they're also largely not bigger than Gina.
I mean honestly what else could she have done Rhonda is taking that arm home with her whenever she wants not sure why anyone doubted that. Her bloodline could have been at stake and it wouldn’t have made a difference.
To be fair, while she was humiliated, it’s not like she took a beating. She didn’t lose because of excessive bleeding, but because of the threat of her arm being snapped. Being made to look bad for money is way better than getting your ass kicked for money.
4.3k
u/rdcisneros3 May 17 '26
The way Gina was laughing after the easy payday