Gina Carano Quotes

1. I want to be a positive influence, and I want people to look at me and see that this is me, this is my heart. It's me out there and that's all that I can give. I'm not trying to conquer or prove anything. I'm just being myself.


2. You shouldn't be greedy. You should feel good about yourself and not be greedy of what other people have.

3. (on MMA fighting not being for women) We're obviously different creatures, but I think women are great fighters. Training just to train is a completely different thing than living a lifestyle of a fighter. Why would anybody want to restrict somebody from doing something that they're passionate about, a way of life? It kills me. I can't even believe it's actually a question. If we want to fight, we're fighting, guys.

4. I definitely don't want to be one of those athletes who turns into a cheesy actress.

5. My two sisters are so beautiful. I always felt like I was not the pretty one. I felt like I was picked on a lot. Not to like, have a sob story because I'm actually thankful for everything I felt then even if it was true or not. I came home crying every day from school, or whatever. I'm glad it happened. It just makes you stronger.







6. It's a very big deal to me to remain the same person because I know all of this is going to be gone one day and I'm just going to have myself.

7. (on her historic Showtime fight with Julie Kedzie) After that fight, I grabbed her and I hugged her, and I was like, you know...that felt like something special happened tonight. It really did feel like we'd conquered something. It felt like we did something good here that not a lot of people had ever seen before. I think that's when I realized that I was starting to become a part of something that was really, really special.

8. Sometimes, you get portrayed the way you don't want to be portrayed.

9. It wasn't always easy to walk into gyms as a female. People were like: "What? Women are doing this now? This is insane!" I was blessed enough to be that person to break down walls and it wasn't easy. And I'm not saying it was easy at all.

10. I think there's a part in each one of us that wants the impossible to happen, and that's what surprises are.

11. (on being labeled the Face of Women's MMA) There's more people more deserving out there than me. I really appreciate it and I don't mean to be rude in denying it or anything, but I just feel like..."I've got five fights. Give me a chance to grow." You can't just put me up there already. I still have to fight the best and I haven't fought the best yet. I feel like there's better girls out there and a lot better than me. And I want to fight them.

12. My last fight wasn't the way I wanted it to go so there is a hole there; don't count me out.

13. (on her early "Fight Club" like bouts) I walked up in a gym once and I saw this dude weighing-in on the scale, and it was like a six-foot, something dude. And I was like: "Oh shit! Whoever has to fight that person's in trouble." And then she turned around…and I was like: "Oh no. Why do I have to fight this girl?" And then we started fighting. I punched her twice and hit her twice, and the girl didn't say anything. She just got out of the ring, walked straight out of the gym. Her corner was looking at me like..."What the hell just happened?" She just walked out of the gym and left. That's the last time I've ever seen that girl on the circuit.

14. I want people to see me for who I am and not for how someone else is trying to promote me.

15. I've had cameras on me since I started the art of fighting and I think that I'm used to having cameras on me in adrenaline-type situations.

16. I'd rather have a career that was short and meaningful than a career that was long and full of bullshit.

17. A lot of people enjoyed the film "Haywire" and a lot of people have mixed feelings on it but regardless, a lot of people have said really wonderful things about it being my first experience, that the fighting they absolutely enjoyed. So I think I've gotten a lot more fans, actually.

18. (In 2007 on Dana White's refusal to allow women into the UFC) We are doing what we want to and there are plenty of other promotions that are up and coming and even that haven't popped up yet that we're going to be able to shine in. Whatever happens, happens. He'll catch up eventually, I'm sure. 

19. I walked into the gym and this little Thai man walked up to me and said: "Oh baby, you fat. You need to lose weight." I was chubby. I really needed to get back into shape and I started training with him, the same guy that called me fat.

20. When I meet people I don't see the same person that other people see. I see past that. That's why I've been good at fighting because the girls don't intimidate me. I kind of see through and see who they are. And it's also hindered me too because…I see who they are. If they're a nice person, I have problems.

21. When you dream big, you eventually attract big things.





22. My mom used to tell me: "It's not what you weigh; it's what you look like."

23. People want to put you in the box and you just have to fight past their preconceived notions.

24. (on how fighting is comparable to sex) It's a very real interaction between two human beings. It's like an energy that nobody else is going to share.




25. Fighting is my career, it's what I love to do, but I am taking offers and trying to expand because the more I expand myself, the more valuable I become to promoters.

26. I can't drive how I fight anymore because I almost got my license suspended. I'm two points away from getting my license suspended because cops never let me go for some reason. I was going 126 but I'm a really good driver at 126 and that's the thing. It's not really reckless if you're in control, right?

27. The guys I date always want to test my strength and wrestle around. By the end, they're drenched in sweat.

28. A perfect date for me is beach, wine and laughter - Flirtatious sexual energy.



29. My knowledge of video games ends with Nintendo "Mario Bros."

30. When I enjoy doing something, I don't mind if it hurts.



31. Everybody is their own critic.

32. I know I don't look like the skinny slender model. I know I look a little different but people like to watch me for some reason. It feels good and I'm humbled by it.




33. I like fighting because it's honest.

34. You want to get better even after people smash you down. You want to be better than you were before.

35. I was always bigger than the other girls. My sisters are very, very beautiful and very skinny, and I've always had a more muscular body. So I grew up with a different mentality.

36. It's a constant battle for everybody, but you need to be happy with yourself.

37. I have gotten some of the most beautiful experiences that a person can possibly ask for so I'm not at all complaining.

38. MMA and fighting is not something you can really fake. When you're in a fight it's kind of easier to see a person for who they really are. I'm in the sport because I love it and I'm not trying to get famous. I do fight because I want to.

39. I am always training because I love it.

40. (on not being taken seriously as a fighter because of her looks) I've been like seriously laughed at, to the point where they're just looking at me up and down and like, laughing at you in front of crowds. And I just stood there. And that is probably the worst thing to do with me I realized because I've never punched somebody so hard in my life.





41. I didn't really watch action films growing up! I grew up on stuff like "Anne of Green Gables" - that was more when I was in elementary school. It was all I ever watched.

42. (on how she began training in Muay Thai) I was dating somebody (Kevin Ross) who loved Bruce Lee. One day we were drinking 40s of Old English and he decided: "Hey, I'm going to lose this girl if I don't clean up my life". And he walked into a gym the next day and became completely sober and is now one of the best Muay Thai guys we have in America. He changed my life just by wanting to be a better person for me.

43. When I throw a punch, I mean it.




44. (on acting) I want to see an athlete cross over correctly and do it well. It's like a challenge to me.

45. My first fight. I fought a girl that was a little bit heavier, a little bit more experienced and I was petrified because I didn't know what I was getting myself into. And I did really well against her and nobody believed it was my first fight. So I was like - Damn! Okay! Here we go! I'm good at something! It just happens to be fighting. Go figure.

46. I think I came up in fighting in a really technical way. If you've ever seen my fights, you know I love distance, I love technique.




47. On "American Gladiators," I got to pummel a lot of people off a pyramid with a giant Q-tip. It was so much fun to wrestle people with no risk of getting knocked out or choked out.

48. I'm really proud of my sport. I'm really proud to have come from such a beautiful thing. It changes people's lives. It changed mine.






49. I know I'm always rooting for the underdog in a fight, and I love to be constantly surprised.

50. There are certain things that I always dreamed of, like fighting in the UFC. There's just certain things that I feel like haven't been accomplished there. There's such great women coming up in the sport; seems like a wonderful time to be in women's MMA.


51. Fighting is very physical and extreme and you're very vulnerable. It's a very mental type of thing.

52. Success and social life is interesting because one part of you wants to stay extremely real and talk to everyone and be friends with everyone. And the next part of you understands that some people don't have the same mind frame.

53. I was always bigger than the other girls. My sisters are very, very beautiful and very skinny, and I've always had a more muscular body. So I grew up with a different mentality.

54. I don't mind answering any questions, because I'm not just a fighter. I'm a lot more than that.



55. (on dating) When you meet a guy the question goes through your head whether you can beat him up or not and I think that's an instant attraction. You know, if they can't take you then I don't think they're interested.

56. Of course, fighting is not going to be as graceful as movie fighting. I don't like it to be ugly and I don't like it to be one big brawl or people clobbering each other.

57. (on her one MMA loss to Cris Cyborg in August 2009) I wanted so badly to do so well for so many people. I wanted to do so much in that fight and I think I had an adrenaline dump or I just wasn't myself and I think a lot of people saw that, which kind of throws you off. You feel like the rug has been pulled out from underneath you. I trained so hard for that fight. I was in the best shape I've ever been in. It was kind of devastating.




58. I am not a violent person. I actually don't like to hurt people.

59. (on her MMA career) I have gotten some of the most beautiful experiences that a person can possibly ask for so I'm not at all complaining. I got pushed out fast and I got to pave a beautiful way and there's a lot of great female MMA fighters out there right now and there will be more in the future and I've absolutely adored being one of those people that's helped that out.





60. The ultimate first date? Something that is completely out of the ordinary - go crazy, because first dates are always a little awkward, so do something a little extreme.

61. I wake up every morning and I surprise myself. I wake up to a new me.

62. I don't get paid what people think I get paid for fighting.

63. Well you know, I have the utmost respect for people like Angelina Jolie and Zoe Saldana in "Colombiana."

64. (on the movie "Haywire" and director Steven Soderbergh) He saw me fighting, doing something that I loved - that I still love. And he wanted to give me an opportunity. He wrote it for me with the idea in mind that it (Mallory Kane) would be a character close to me, that I could understand. But it ends up being not a character that I understood at all because she's organized and she's strict and she's an alpha female and I'm nothing like that.




65. I find that whoever you are as a person is how you're gonna fight, and every basic instinct kind of comes out at that moment.

66. (on being labeled) I'm Gina Carano. You can label me that.

67. (on the criticism that Female Fighters can advance their careers on looks more than talent) There's all sorts of different types of people. I think everybody's special. Of course the media wants to focus on "sex sells" but I'm just not a believer in that. But I'm not afraid to take a nice sexy photo either. I'm okay with that. I'm not trying to run from being female. I think this world is moving past "sex sells" a lot. I think we're getting to the point to where you have to look deeper into a person. Or maybe that's just me hoping.

68. We all have different places that we fit in life. I'm trying to find my fit. It seems to be physical violence. 

69. Since I've started fighting it has taught me a lot about self respect, self confidence and self control.

70. (on Cris Cyborg testing positive for a banned substance) It hurt a little bit. That was my most important MMA moment and so I can't lie that it didn't sting. At the same time, she's a phenomenal athlete and whoever is around her telling her that she needs that is wrong. She doesn't need that. She'll be phenomenal without that. She has a bad time ahead of her. She's off for a year now. That's an emotional thing where you have to earn people's trust back in a way. I'm not rejoicing in it at all. I'm hurt but at the same time I sympathize with her and I know that she's great, one of the best female athletes that we've had in the sport. She'll come back.

71. I am a recognized female in the sport (MMA). I'm not going to take the whole burden or the glory of female fighting on because, first of all, there's females that have come before me and there's females that will come after me. There's better females out there. I'm just trying to hang in and see where I measure up.

72. I'm really surprised how many people knew me as Gina Carano. MMA has a beautiful fan base.

73. I've done a *@$#load of work and pain and barriers that I've broken down so far. I'm making a career for myself and I'm doing the best I can. I'm not ashamed of anything I've done.

74. (on Ronda Rousey becoming the new face of women's MMA) I think she's wonderful. I think she's talented…she's so talented. To have somebody in our sport from the Olympics, I think is a really big deal. So, I have a lot of respect for her and I think she's wonderful for us and the sport. Not one of her fights has gone out of the first round… the first minute of the first round. That's incredible. That's awesome that our sport is attracting people like that.


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