Best known as the butt kicking, q-tip swinging, pyramid flipping Crush on NBC’s American Gladiators, Gina Carano leads something of a double life.

For a few months of the year she slaps on the spandex and does the Gladiator thing. But when she’s not on a filming lot in Hollywood, she’s at Randy Couture’s XTreme Couture gym preparing for a much more brutal kind of competition.

The Face of Women’s MMA

Gina Carano is widely considered to be the face of women’s mixed martial arts, and for that honor she has an endless line-up of would-be opponents who want to smash that face in and take over her mantle.

Sporting a 6-0 record, she is less experienced than many of the women who have been toiling in relative obscurity. No one will deny the fact that she has a great amount of talent … they just want a chance to put that talent to the test.

The Challenger to the Throne

And so comes Kelly Kobald, a tough fighter from Minnesota with a 16-2-1 record including 10 wins via strikes.

With a win over another EliteXC standout, Shayna Baszler, and experience against top female fighters such as Tara LaRosa, Kelly is the most experienced fighter Carano has had to face up to this point in her career.

This fight should be very interesting. Both Gina and Kelly are known for their striking, which sets this up to be a slugfest. But this isn’t a situation where there are any giant holes in either woman’s game … they both train with excellent camps and are well-versed on the ground as well.

A Weighty Issue

Typically, Gina Carano is used to coming into fights with a decent size advantage. In fact, there has been a certain amount of controversy in the past where Carano has failed to make weight for her fights.

In this case, she will not come in with a significant strength advantage. Kelly Kobald is known for being freakishly strong and may not be as easy to push around as Carano’s past opponents.

The Final Word

All that said and done, I still expect Gina Carano to win this fight. While Kobald has a long record, it is littered with inexperienced fighters.

Her losses include a decision to Julie Kedzie, an opponent Carano handled under a year ago herself. While some EliteXC stars thrive on company hype, Gina Carano is the real deal.

She may not be the best female fighter in the world, but she is certainly up near the top. I see her stopping Kobald in the third with strikes.