Gina Carano: Female MMA Fighter Turned Hollywood Action Star

Move over Uma Thurman and Angelina Jolie, there’s a beautiful new butt-kicking action star in Hollywood.

In Steven Soderbergh’s upcoming action thrillerHaywire, mixed martial arts superstar Gina Carano is destined to cause jaws to drop and heads to roll as she takes on the role of a secret service op seeking revenge on her betrayers.

In the movie Carano joins a star-studded cast of Hollywood veterans including Ewan McGregor, Michael Douglas and Antonio Banderas, but according to co-star Channing Tatum the young female fighter is ultimately what makes the film.

“You are going to get some really satisfying girl on dude whoop-ass, just straight up whoop-ass,” Tatum told FOX411’s Pop Tarts column at the Comic-Con International Convention over the weekend.

In another interview, Channing also revealed that he had a hard time hitting Carano during some of the film’s action sequences, and for good reason:

“She called me the female P word, and then I had to, for my manity. I hit her and she hit me back twice as hard. Then I didn’t want to hit her anymore.”

For those of you scratching your head wondering where you’ve seen Carano (besides the MMA ring); the 29-year-old “tough girl” also appeared on NBC’s American Gladiators under the pseudonym “Crush.”

Haywire hits theaters on January 20, 2012.

Until then you can catch Gina Carano in the official HD trailer for the flick below: