Bloody Elbow

While it often seems like Showtime and Strikeforce (or at least Scott Coker) are banking on Gina Carano to return to the cage and resume her fighting career, we've certainly not had any indication from her that it would happen anytime soon. Gina's major motion picture debut is coming soon with the release of Haywire on January 20 and the early reviews indicate a bright future on the screen for the former champion.

Sergio Non of USA Today sat down with Gina to talk about the film but also asked about her future in the sport:

You've been hesitant in talking about your future in MMA, one way or another. What criteria would you use to make a decision about returning or not?

(chuckles) There are certain things that I always dreamed of, like fighting in the UFC. That was a big one.

I don't know. 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.

So I'm not sure. I'm going to kind of get on the other side of Jan. 20th and give back to this film what it gave to me. Because it was -- I won't lie and say it wasn't the best time of my life, because it absolutely was. It was really fun to creatively express myself in a sport and a passion that I love, without having to try and hurt someone.

I know that there's so much that you can do in a lifetime with acting and there's only a certain amount of time you can fight. I'm keeping all these things in mind. I'll definitely know a lot more in a couple of months.

Is that a way of saying that you'd be done with fighting if the movie does well and high-quality offerings come rolling in from Hollywood?

Not necessarily. I think that the right offer has to come in either way. I was told that by a wonderful actress whom I've always kind of looked up to and watched in her career, the good and the bad.

She told me something and I'll always remember it. She says, "No matter what, you've got make the right decisions for yourself in this life. You have to stay true to yourself."

Sometimes that means walking away from something that you don't want to walk away from because you think the opportunity's going to be so great. Or sometimes that's doing something that nobody believes in, like when I started Muay Thai and I got hard time for fighting and looked at sideways for thinking that that was a profession.

I think it's just going to feel right when it does. I'm not sure exactly what is going to take that decision. I'm just trying to get on the other side of Jan. 20th and look back and know I gave it everything I had to give back. Then I can have a clean slate and start and land where I'm at.

To me it sounds like a return isn't happening any time soon, but doesn't quite want to permanently close the door.