Back in 2012 Gina Carano appeared on Conan O’Brien to promote her Haywire action movie. Although she is now a veteran of countless media interviews, and soars in the limelight, at the time she was just getting rolling, and was a little hesitant.

She acknowledged that she would “rather get punched in the face” than be interviewed on live television.

Carano also revealed how she got started in martial arts.

It was during a point in her life when she was by her telling “sitting around drinking 40s with a boyfriend.” On her first visit to a Muay Thai gym, famed trainer Master Toddy spoke to her bluntly.

“Oooh baby, you too chubby,” he explained.

She took to Muay Thai, building a 12–1–1 record.

Carano then started in MMA, where was widely hailed as the “face of women’s MMA.” An honorable and modest martial artists, Carano rejected the label, but it is a matter of historical fact that her Strikeforce title fight with Cris Cyborg on 15 August 2009 was the first time women headlined a major MMA event.

Carano lost with one second to go in the first. It was her first loss, and she never fought again.

Carano had previously compared mixed martial arts and sex. O’Brien was eager to explore the subject.

“I want to know why that’s true,” he said, adding “in great detail.”

An amused Carano provided a G rated reply.

“If you think about it, it’s a very real interaction between two human beings,” she explained. “And it’s like an energy. You have a real energy really, and I have an energy, an energy that nobody else is going to share.”

Carano performed as Crush in the 2008 version of the television series American Gladiators. Haywire was her first film. It earned her a nomination for best actress in the genre at the 18th Critics’ Choice Awards. She has since appeared in Fast & Furious 6 (2013), In the Blood (2014), and appears as Angel Dust in the upcoming Marvel Comics film adaptation of Deadpool.