Gina Carano hasn’t fought since 2009 so it’s understandable that she’s being bombarded with questions about whether or not she’s actually ready to face UFC Hall of Famer and former champion Ronda Rousey when they clash on Saturday.
At her peak, Carano was the face of women’s MMA and a vicious striker with knockout power but her undefeated run ended when she lost in lopsided fashion to Cris Cyborg when they met in Strikeforce. For the past 17 years, Carano has put almost all of her attention on her acting career, although she’s contemplated a return to MMA previously, especially when the UFC was teasing a potential showdown against Rousey over a decade ago.
But now the fantasy fight has turned to reality so Carano called upon coach John Wood from Syndicate MMA to get her ready and that’s where she’s spent several months getting ready for her comeback. While the process has been long and arduous at times, Wood has been impressed by Carano’s transformation, although some of her old tricks still showed up in the gym from day one.
“I will tell you this: The power and the speed is still there,” Wood told MMA Fighting. “I’ve known Gina for a long time and man, she cracks. The big thing for this fight is how to use that correctly. She’s got the kind of power that she doesn’t even need to throw hard to touch you.
“She’s got power, she hits harder than a lot of the guys that I have. She really does. Kicks like a freaking horse. It’s about using those attributes smartly.”
Recent UFC signee Lucas Brennan has also been working alongside Rousey for the past several months with his father — legendary grappler Chris Brennan — serving as one of her main coaches.
Brennan admits Carano’s improvements have been awe-inspiring but watching her put on a show by displaying her striking arsenal has been nothing short of stunning.
“She hits like a grown f*cking man,” Brennan told MMA Fighting. “She hits so hard. Me and my brother [Tyler] are working with her everyday while my dad Chris and John and then her husband Kevin Ross, who’s phenomenal, and they’re working everything from the side while we work and super strong. Cracks like she’s married to Kevin Ross. Hits really hard. Ridiculous.
“Real high spirited all the time. Even when we’ve burnt through her and exhausted her, she’s always in a good mood about everything. It’s been a pretty smooth camp with her and we all mesh well together.”
Brandon Jenkins, who opens the Rousey vs. Carano card on Saturday against Nate Diaz’s teammate Chris Avila, has also been coaching regularly at Syndicate for the past several months. Much like Brennan, he’s seen and heard Carano’s impact whenever she’s throwing punches.
“You can hear her cracking pads,” Jenkins said. “She still hits like a tank and then Chris Brennan has been in there getting her grappling ready and getting her jiu-jitsu ready for Ronda Rousey. Just watching her transform in the last year has been outstanding.”
While Carano’s strengths on the feet are well known, perhaps the biggest question ahead of her upcoming fight is how she can deal with Rousey’s world-class grappling.
As an Olympic bronze medalist in judo, Rousey came into the sport with a unique skill set and she routinely tossed her opponents to the ground before tapping them out with her signature armbar usually with less than a minute expired on the clock.
Heading into the fight on Saturday, Rousey is heavily favored to win and a big part of that is her overwhelming ground game with many expecting her to do the same thing to Carano as she did so many of her past opponents in the UFC.
But Wood says Carano has been working tirelessly to counter whatever Rousey throws at her and he’s confident she can deal with judo, jiu-jitsu, wrestling or anything else that happens in the fight.
“There is no mystery,” Wood said. “It’s a classic striker versus grappler kind of thing and we’ve all seen crazy things happen in MMA. You’ve seen great wrestlers get outwrestled. You’ve seen great jiu-jitsu guys get submitted by blue belts. You’ve seen great strikers get knocked out by crappy jiu-jistu guys. Anything can happen in this. We’re going to prepare and cover every single thing that we need to cover and make sur she’s ready.
“Our job as coaches, myself, Chris Brennan who’s coming in and recently took over the jiu-jitsu head coaching at Syndicate, it couldn’t happen at a better time. His two boys, super high-level black belts, Lucas and Tyler Brennan [are in] the camp. We’ve got a bunch of good people. We’ve got a bunch of black belt judo guys and girls that [brought] into camp. So it really just comes down to training. Everybody knows what everybody wants to do.”
But as much as the focus might seem like it’s on Carano reacting to Rousey trying to take her down, Wood knows expecting the unexpected is a huge part of any strategy in MMA.
Wood is getting Carano prepared for every possibility in the fight but he knows the worst thing he can do as coach is spending too much time thinking about what Rousey might do versus letting his fighter go out and execute her own strategy in the fight.
“My goal isn’t to train Gina to make her so afraid of the ground that we can’t be there,” Wood explained. “I’m working myself, Chris, working to put the best Gina Carano in a fight that’s ever been. That’s what I think you’re going to see. She’ll be ready for everything. I feel confident.
“She comes with a good base. I’m watching her move, watching her defend, defend takedowns and she’s actually taking people down. She’s got a good ground game. She’s got an overall good game. I’m very confident you’re going to see a very, very well rounded Gina Carano when it comes fight time.”
Come fight night, Wood is more than confident that Carano could deliver a devastating knockout but he also recognizes that’s not the only way she might find to beat Rousey in the cage.
“When you get into a fight, shit changes,” Wood said. “One punch can change a whole game plan. One kick can change the whole thing. One takedown, all these kinds of things. I don’t like to over game plan so we make it that we can’t do this. If this happens, we’re going to die!
“It’s a very fluid thing and I think we just need to alleviate that pressure and say we’re just going to get into a fight. Whatever happens, happens but we will be prepared for those things.
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