ESPN recently published an article highlighting the most influential women in MMA history and somehow left Gina Carano off the list. The omission was so obvious that UFC President Dana White called it out publicly. Cris Cyborg, one of the most decorated fighters in women’s MMA history, echoed the same sentiment.
For fans who were not following the sport two decades ago, here is some perspective on what Carano actually meant to women’s MMA.
She was the first woman to headline a major MMA card. She competed in the first major women’s MMA title fight for a worldwide brand. She was the first female fighter featured on a trading card for a major international brand. She was the first woman MMA fighter to receive ESPN coverage. She earned both Sports Illustrated and WMMAA Female Fighter of the Year honors in 2008. She was the first woman to fight on both premium television and network television.
That is not a footnote in women’s MMA history. That is women’s MMA history.
Her combination of elite fighting ability and mainstream appeal made casual sports fans stop and pay attention to a sport that had largely ignored women. Her popularity did not just open doors. It built the entire hallway.
Gina Walked So Ronda Could Run
It has become almost a given to say that Ronda Rousey paved the way for women in the UFC, and while Ronda’s contributions are real and significant, the full story requires acknowledging who paved the way for Ronda.
Gina Carano made Dana White pay attention to women’s MMA. Ronda Rousey then made Dana White decide to bring women’s MMA into the UFC. From there, Cris Cyborg and Amanda Nunes took the sport to championship heights that continue to this day.
Those four women represent the pillars of women’s MMA. Leaving any one of them off a list of the most influential women in the sport’s history is not an oversight. It is a rewrite.
The Disney Connection
So why would ESPN, a network that owes some of its women’s MMA coverage history to Gina Carano, leave her off this list entirely?
ESPN is owned by Disney. Disney fired Carano from her role on The Mandalorian following a political social media post. Carano subsequently filed a lawsuit against Disney that was still active when this ESPN article was published. The lawsuit has since reached a settlement, but the timing is difficult to ignore.
A Disney owned media outlet publishing a list of the most influential women in MMA history and leaving out the woman who is arguably the most influential of them all, while that same woman has an active legal dispute with Disney, raises serious questions about editorial independence. This is not about politics or personal disagreements. This is about a sports media outlet allowing corporate conflict to distort the historical record of an entire sport.
History Does Not Change Based On Who Is Telling It
What makes this frustrating is how common it has become. Contributions, no matter how significant, get quietly buried the moment someone falls out of favor with the right people. Disputes and politics have apparently become sufficient reason to erase someone from the very history they helped create.
Gina Carano built the foundation of mainstream women’s MMA. That happened. No list, no article, and no corporate dispute changes that fact.
And for those who need a reminder of how relevant she remains, Carano recently headlined the first major MMA event on Netflix. The woman who was the face of women’s MMA at the beginning is still making history today.
ESPN had an opportunity to honor the full and accurate history of women’s MMA. Instead they published something that reads less like journalism and more like a corporate grudge dressed up as a sports article. Dana White saw it. Cris Cyborg saw it. The MMA community saw it.
Gina Carano’s place in history does not require ESPN’s validation. But it does deserve it.
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