You have to understand that Gina had made her career by beating up chicks who were much smaller than her. She couldn't make weight at lower classes, failed a couple of times, so they instituted a 145 weight class for her. Then they populated it with chicks who were fighting at 125 and 135 before that. I remember when she fought Kaitlyn Young and Young's previous fight had been at 125. So Carano was beating up girls considerably smaller than she was until she faced Cyborg. That was the first time she faced a woman who was as big as her. Gina was walking around above 160 (some reports were in the range of 180) when she was doing American Gladiators and the girls she was fighting against were having other fights below 130. But when they got a chance to fight her they took it because Elite had created a weight class she could fit into and made her the face of WMMA. So they fought above their class just for the chance and exposure. And she pounded them. Then Cyborg came along and she was every bit as big and stronger, so she did to Gina what Gina had been doing to smaller and weaker opponents. Gina didn't like life on that side of the beating, so she retired.
Gina stood tough? Sure, and so did Kaitlyn Young when she was giving up 20 lbs to Gina. Seemed fair then though, because everyone wanted the pretty chick to win. Whether she was doing so fairly or not wasn't the issue. And don't fool yourself, those fights weren't fair. EliteXC made the weight class for her - she couldn't even make 140 so they had to bump it up. Meanwhile her opponents were fighting at 125 in other bouts.
