Gina Carano open to MMA return

Actress and mixed martial arts fighter Gina Carano said she'd be "very open" to returning to fighting, despite five years away from the cage.

Carano last fought in 2009 in a loss to "Cyborg" Justino, but she said she's never officially retired from the sport, Yahoo! Sports reported.

"I've never retired. I've never officially said that," Carano said.

"For some reason a part of me has always kept it open. I don't know, there's a certain part of me that thinks if circumstances were right, and I could keep doing what I'm trying to make my future into, that's an ideal world. If circumstances were right, you never know. I'm very open to it."

Rumors have swirled for weeks about the next fight for UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey. Could Carano be up next?

"I feel like I can't say too much. I've got all this information that if I could just speak freely, this is actually what's going on," Carano said. "I wish I could open up my mind and tell you exactly the things that I've seen and the conversations that I've had, but I think to sum it up in a nice, safe way for me is if circumstances were right, and if it's a good enough circumstance [I would come back] because my first love is MMA."

[Yahoo! Sports]