Glenn Carano has traveled the world to see his middle daughter compete, all the way from Thailand to Mississippi to Newark. Still, his recollection of that night near San Jose, Calif., remains murky. He prefers it that way.
Gina Carano, America's postmodern sweetheart, the Maxim hottie who could submit you in any variety of ways, was 12-1-1 as a Muay Thai fighter, and now 7-0 as a professional mixed martial artist. That night — a glorified smoker somewhere in the Bay Area, her father recalls — was her only loss.
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The other woman was bigger and stronger; his daughter wasn't as busy as usual. But the real details are lost on her father.
"I don't even want to think about those things you're talking about right now," says Glenn Carano, a former backup quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys. "She's my little baby."
I don't blame him. It's painful enough to see your kid lose in Little League or Pop Warner.
But the losses in combat sports aren't symbolic or metaphorical. What's more, there's the gender issue. Equal rights and equal opportunity are wonderful. But let's not pretend boys and girls are the same. What dad could bear to see his girl in a fight, much less get beat up?
Just the same, this Saturday night at the HP Pavilion, the father will be front and center when his daughter returns to San Jose for what is arguably the biggest fight in the history of women's fights — Gina Carano vs. Cristiane Santos, aka Cyborg.
"As close as I can to the ring," says the elder Carano, "that's where I'll be."
Being the father of a daughter, I wonder how he can do it. I find myself telling him about my daughter, a 9-year-old who, for reasons beyond my capacity to explain, has gone from Brooklyn to horse shows in Pebble Beach. The other day, in the middle of a competition, she fell off her pony. Her head bounced off the turf and hit the fence. Horrified and panicked, I run out into the ring.
"Daddy," she says, "you're embarrassing me."
