Barstool to the Blog: The Gina Carano List

Gina Carano has become a hot topic lately with the release the much anticipated movie Haywire which she starred in. Unfortunately the talk hasn't stayed on that topic. MMA fans, media, and even promoters have become confused by seeing somebody in the spotlight who they know is capable of fighting and are once again clamoring for her return to the cage. Chris "Cyborg" Santos' year long suspension for performance enhancing drugs had added even more misplaced intrigue.

The entire discussion is reminiscent of coverage for the posterchild of development hell; Duke Nukem Forever. Without retelling the entire story, it was a much anticipated game that was announced in 1997 with several developers promising to deliver it and all falling short until a scant few months ago. Far greater than the game itself was a website that lives on in nerd lore known as the Duke Nukem Forever List. It was a stark reminder of all the things that had occurred in the time fans spent waiting for one video game. It's easy to forget how much time has really passed when you don't have relevant landmarks to judge by.

In that spirit, I have put together a list of things that have happened since Gina Carano last won a fight. This list is not meant to marginalize or diminish Carano's career and it doesn't do that at all. It is a reminder of when she accomplished in her career and provides important context for those who expect her to return to fighting. With that said...

The following things have occurred between Gina Carano's most recent win against Kelly Kobald on October 4, 2008 and the present day:

In MMA:

The UFC Light Heavyweight belt went from Forrest Griffin to Rashad Evans to Lyoto Machida to Mauricio "Shogun" Rua to Jon Jones. See also: The Machida Era.

The title reigns of Dominick Cruz, Jose Aldo, and Frankie Edgar.

Dan Hardy's UFC career.

Jon Jones left the BombSquad following the Stephan Bonnar fight and became Rashad Evans' protege. He then broke the 'Jackson's Oath' and began the beef with Rashad Evans.

Alistair Overeem returned to kickboxing following a four year haitus. His run included victories over Badr Hari, Peter Aerts (x2), Tyrone Spong, Gokhan Saki, and Ewerton Teixeira and became the last ever K-1 World Grand Prix champion.

Mike Brown ended the streak of Urijah Faber and took the WEC Featherweight belt. He defended the belt in a rematch against Faber and against Leonard Garcia.

Diego Sanchez dropped to lightweight where he defeated Joe Stevenson and Clay Guida en route to a savage beating at the hands and shin of BJ Penn.

Kimbo Slice lost to Seth Petruzelli in his first professional defeat. He went on to appear on The Ultimate Fighter Season 10 and was defeated in the first round by Roy Nelson. He did not fight again the next week, or the week after, or the week after.

Randy Couture came out of retirement and retired again.

Matt Lindland went from a top 10 middleweight to the recipient of the scariest knockout of the decade against Vitor Belfort at Affliction: Day of Reckoning. His only win since is Spencer Pratt entourage member Kevin Casey.

War Machine signed with LA Direct Models to launch his career in pornography which ended abruptly following a fistfight at a Las Vegas birthday party. He was arrested twice more in California and served a one year prison sentence.

Matt Mitrione fired Malki Kawa, paradoxically launching the career of Malki Kawa.

For more from the world of boxing and the real world, see the full entry after the jump.

Boxing:

Manny Pacquiao's career at welterweight, starting with retiring Oscar De La Hoya.

The entirety of Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs Manny Pacquiao negotiations.

The Super Six World Boxing Classic, complete with injuries and delays, skyrocketed Andre Ward to the top of Super Middleweight rankings.

Bernard Hopkins became the oldest boxing champion in history at 46.

Saul Alvarez won 18 fights in a row, made his stateside debut, and became the leading candidate for Floyd Mayweather's next fight.

Wladimir and Vitali Klitchko... uh... ok, nothing actually happened here.

General:

Speculation began that Hillary Clinton would consider being Secretary of State under Barack Obama.

Ke$ha.

Brett Favre signed with the New York Jets. Then the Minnesota Vikings. Then retired again. Aaron Rodgers chuckled and broke his record for single season passing yards for a Packer.

T-Pain got on a boat with Andy Samberg.

Kanye West discovered Autotune and released 808's and Heartbreaks before My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and Watch the Throne.

Apple launched the iPhone 3GS, 4, and 4S as well as every version of the iPad.

The Android operating system was upgraded to version 1.1, the first upgrade since its launch. It is now on version 4.0.

Kinect for Xbox and Playstation Move.