Back in March, former professional mixed martial artist Gina Carano expressed that she was “very open” to returning to the MMA cage. Two weeks ago, UFC president Dana White stated with confidence that he expected to easily sign Carano to fight the following week. Though Carano has proven more reluctant to return than White anticipated.

Carano, 32, left the ring for an acting career five years ago, and has been featured in films including Steven Soderbergh’s Haywire alongside Channing Tatum, as well as Fast & Furious 6, which starred the late Paul Walker.

Regarding having Carano, formerly the third-ranked 145 pound female MMA fighter in the world, back on board with the UFC, White vaguely commented, “It’s going very positive, but it’s complicated.”

Aside from possible filming schedule conflicts, Carano realizes that five years outside of the ring will have diminished her Muy Thai fighting skills. The actress said in March, “I would definitely take something like that extremely seriously. I would dedicate myself to it, and need the time because you’re taking somebody who hasn’t fought in a while, that hasn’t been in the fight camp-type environment; and it would have to be done in a time where there would be enough time for me to get ready for that and be able to support myself during that time because that’s all I’d be doing is taking that seriously, and it would take me away from other projects or potential projects that I’ve been working this far in my life to get to.”

Here Carano scraps with Michelle Rodriguez in Fast & Furious 6:

The last time Carano (who at times goes by “Conviction” in the ring) fought, she was defeated by Christiane “Cyborg” Justino in August, 2009. Carano has not been in the ring in a professional capacity since.

UFC fans are excited about a possible rematch between former Strikeforce champion Carano and current bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey. Rousey said she would go back up to middleweight (145 pounds) to fight Carano. Carano said she would return to the ring if the circumstances were right.

Image via YouTube