MMA legend Gina Carano has explained feeling a sense of victory despite her quick defeat to Ronda Rousey last weekend.

For the first time in 17 years, Gina Carano competed in a professional mixed martial arts fight on Saturday night. She went head to head with Ronda Rousey, and while she would have been hoping to put forward a good showing, she instead fell to a very quick submission loss inside the first few seconds of the contest.

RELATED: Ronda Rousey lauds Gina Carano following 17-second submission win: “She’s my f****** hero”

Alas, the important thing for Carano and Rousey was simply putting on the fight in the first place, and they did a great job of promoting it and making it feel like a huge deal.

In her post-fight interview, Carano poured her heart out when discussing what went down and what the future could hold for her.

Carano looks back at quick Rousey defeat

“I wanted that to last longer,” Carano said in her post-fight interview with Ariel Helwani. “I felt like I was so ready. I felt so good. I’ve never felt that good, but I haven’t been here for 17 years. I wanted to hit her. … I’ll probably feel (unfulfilled) later, but right now getting in the cage was a victory. Getting here after 17 years was a victory. Fighting a legend was a victory, and I feel great. I feel like I just wanted to fight, and I didn’t get that.

“She trained, she had her game plan, and I have so much love and respect for her. This was a victory in my life. She changed it. I woke up every morning at 3 a.m. thinking about her. I took 100 pounds off of my body, which is going to give me a longer life. I fell back in love with mixed martial arts. There’s so many good things to think about here. It’s just the fight didn’t go my way.”

“I don’t know (about another fight),” Carano said. “I think 17 years was a lot. I think being 44 was a lot. I don’t think I can put my family back through that. But I’m going to go look at this. I didn’t get anything out. I didn’t get to do anything in this fight. You just never know with me. I should’ve got matched up with a striker. I wanted to get some of that out.”

Quotes via MMA Junkie

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