Gina Carano returns to face Sarah D'Alelio at "Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum"

The face of women’s mixed martial arts, Gina Carano will be making her long awaited return to the cage very, very soon.

The EliteXC veteran has been credited to bringing female mixed martial artists to the main stage of top organization’s, now including strikeforce, which currently supports two-divisions: the welterweight (135-pounds) and middleweight (145-pounds) classes.

The one-time MAXIM model will be returning to the Strikeforce promotion come this June when she is expected to be taking on Sarah D’Alelio upon her return, though nothing is certain as of yet.

The proposed bout between Carano and D’Alelio was initially reported by NonStopWMMA.com, and MMAJunkie.com subsequently confirmed that the bout is currently “pending”, citing that verbal agreements are in place–however nothing is final as of yet.

Gina was last inside the cage when she vied for the then vacant Strikeforce women’s 145-pound title. Carano battled against Brazilian powerhouse Cristiane Santos, whom devastated Carano inside of the first-round for a TKO win. The loss was the first that Gina had tasted as a professional mixed martial artist, and since the August 2009 bout, has been M.I.A in the MMA world.

A budding actress, Carano took up the opportunity to work with critically acclaimed director Steven Soderbergh to star an upcoming action filmed called “Haywire”, which is due for release later this Summer.

Gina will be making her return to the Strikeforce cage on June 18th at the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, Texas. The event will house the second-leg of the eight-man heavyweight grand prix, which kicked off this past February in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Sarah will be making her promotional debut into Strikeforce come June, and will be looking to use Carano as a spring board into the spotlight. In her last outing, D’Alelio was dominated from start to finish by Greg Jackson’s Julie Kedzie last December in a 135-pound match-up. The loss snapped a three-fight win streak that Sarah had attained, and remains her only blemish in her career.

So, MMA peeps, what do you think of the news? Who’s excited for the return of Carano? A lot of talk has been brewing as far as how much longer we could expect to have a female divisions in Strikeforce now that the UFC has purchased the organization, but if there was any one fighter who could help add a little more flare to the idea of women fighting, it would be Gina. Sound off in the comment section below.,