Welcome to Danica's world, Gina

September 25, 9:30 PMMixed Martial Arts ExaminerEddie Graveline

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Gina Carano is going out of her way to deflect the notion that she has become the lone icon of women's Mixed Martial Arts. "I am a recognized female in the sport, but I don't think that I am the face of women's MMA," she said. "It's just a label. I'm Gina Carano. You can label me that." Whether she really means it or it's just good posturing doesn't really matter, because in reality, that's exactly what she is.
 

With a fight coming up on October 4th, Gina is saying the right things. She wants people to focus on her as a fighter, because that's what she needs to be doing right now. But she isn't getting all that attention for nothing. Like it or not, she's the face of women's MMA for a reason. Actually, for a few reasons. First of all, her skills are legitimate. With a solid Muay Thai background, she's undefeated as a professional. At 25, she also has several more years of fighting ahead of her, as well as the potential to keep developing as a fighter. She also happens to be the only woman being heavily promoted by a major MMA organization. Elite XC is once again putting her in front of a network TV audience when the Oct. 4 fight is shown live on CBS. In all honesty, though, the biggest reason that she's been chosen for such exposure is probably the fact that she's really good looking. Well spoken and feminine outside the cage, she's a marketing phenomenon waiting to happen.

Gina Carano competes in a male-dominated sport, is very good at what she does and cleans up well. Sound like anyone else you've heard of? I'll give you a hint: she drives an Indy car. Yep, Gina Carano is about to walk a mile in Danica Patrick's proverbial shoes, but actually has a few advantages over the mega-star driver. For one thing, she's not directly competing against men. Even more important is the fact that MMA is a hundred times more popular than the IRL.

We can talk about Gina as a fighter for now, but after October 4th, don't be surprised if she switches gears. There's a lot of potential there and if some big corporations come a knockin', it would be awfully hard for anyone to say no, no matter how dedicated they are to their craft.

Gina Carano doesn't like being labeled