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Here’s a few pics of Gina Carano on the set of Knockout. The older dude she’s talking to in the pics below is Antonio Banderas.

HT: Splash News via BE

Is in love with Christmas.. I hope you all are feeling the same.

— Gina Carano

Christmas, what a lucky guy.

On that note, Merry Christmas everyone! I’ll be traveling for the remainder of the day to visit friends and family for the holiday. The next few days will probably be pretty slow around here, but I’ll do my best to keep up with any breaking news.

I do want to take a moment to thank everyone for continuing to make MMAConvert one of your daily and weekly stops for your MMA break from reality. As crazy to me as it is, this site has continued to grow throughout 2009 and I have my fingers crossed that a recent development will push that trend even further in 2010.

Thanks again everyone and happy holidays!

The ratings for the Strikeforce “Fedor vs. Rogers” main event on CBS are in, and guess what? They’re pretty darn good all things considered.

ESPN’s “The Body Issue” is the last time you’ll see Gina Carano without her clothes for a while, she thinks.

“I’m a very shy individual,” she said. “I did like it, but I don’t really show off my body that much. It was a shocker. My whole family was like, ‘OK, OK, is that it? No more.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, no more, no more.’

“I did love being a part of it because it was such a unique issue with a bunch of different people’s bodies. I’m a curvy person. I’ve got meat on me. Maybe, hopefully, little girls out there see my body and can be inspired by that, too. It gives them something else to look at.

“It was all good. But I’m just a shy person, so it’s a little bit hard. It was beautiful, but I’m shy. No more. I’m going to keep my clothes on for a while, I think.”

Video via The MMA News, Story via MiddleEasy.com

Fanhouse got a hold of another picture of Gina Carano in ESPN’s “Body Issue.” They definitely saved the better pic for the cover. After the jump, a close up of Randy’s ear. He better hope he never needs a hearing aid.

ESPN The Magazine’s “Body Issue” will hit newsstands on Oct. 9 with six different cover models/athletes. As seen above, Gina Carano, in the best shape we’ve seen her, will grace the cover along with half naked versions of Serena Williams, Adrian Peterson, Dwight Howard, NASCAR’s Carl Edwards and amputee triathlete Sarah Reinertsen. Sports by Brooks has the Williams and Howard covers posted. No offense to them or the three others, but wouldn’t ESPN sell a lot more copies if they put that picture of Gina on all the covers? Seriously, who needs to see Carl Edwards in anything besides his race suit? Oh well, at least one of the six isn’t Randy Couture’s ear.

HT: Cagewriter

“If you start following the female mma fighters, Gina pops out pretty noticeably. I thought it was a fascinating combination of appearance and activity… I’d been wanting to make a spy action film for a while, but hadn’t really determined what I was going to bring to it that would distinguish it from the traditional approach. Then I thought, ‘Why don’t I just build it around her? She can actually break people in half.’ I was interested in doing something ultra-realistic…My desire is for it to be a very realistic portrayal of somebody who gets hired, as these people do, by the government, to go and perform certain duties that it would be inappropriate to give to the military. That could be anything from a hostage-grab to surveillance to an actual killing…a combination of a Bond movie and Point Blank. more on the scale of From Russian With Love than, you know, Quantum Of Solace… Something where the characters and the story are as prominent as the action stuff.”

—Film director Steven Soderberg explaing to Empire why he chose Gina Carano for the lead role in his upcoming movie Knockout

Sounds like Gina definitely has her work cut out for her on this one.

Speaking of Gina, Fanhouse is reporting she will be appearing “semi-nude” in ESPN Magazine’s “Body Issue” which is set to hit newsstands on October 9. I don’t know about her acting, but I’m pretty sure she’s capable of pulling that off quite well.

Image via Esther Lin for Showtime. Knockout tip via ESPN.

Gina Carano has been cast as the lead in what I’m assuming to be a major motion picture. Usually actors/actresses get a significant amount of experience in smaller parts before landing such a role. Not Gina, her acting resume consists of this. I’m happy for her, but I can’t help but wonder if she’ll be able to pull it off.

HT: Bloody Elbow