Gina Carano has finally revealed what was really going on during the cageside moment that became the famous “Gina Carano lip-bite” meme.
Carano attended Strikeforce: Shamrock vs. Diaz on April 11, 2009, at HP Pavillion in San Jose, Calif., to watch Cris Cyborg fight Hitomi Akano. Cameras repeatedly cut to her at cageside, culminating in the close-up shot that later went viral.
Seventeen years later, during an appearance on "The Ariel Helwani Show," Carano opened up about the clip. "I don't smoke weed, but I had smoked weed (that night), and I was just living in my head," Carano said. She added, "The cameraman just kept on putting (the camera on me) – and I thought it was in my head because I was a little bit stoned. … I was just in my head. I was like, 'Is this guy putting the camera on me a lot, or am I just being super paranoid?' It turns out he was putting the camera on me a lot. So what was going through my head: Just like, 'Act normal, act normal.' And that happened. It was a total stoner moment."
In 2009, Carano’s mainstream appeal was already rising thanks to her MMA career and appearances in "American Gladiators," the videogame "Red Alert," and Maxim. She has been out of MMA competition since her August 2009 loss to Cris Cyborg.
Now 44, Carano is scheduled to fight Ronda Rousey in the main event of Netflix's first live-streamed MMA event on May 16 at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif., in what is described as a highly anticipated showdown of women's MMA pioneers.
