Right on the heels of his upcoming Matt Damon comedy "The Informant!", director Steven Soderbergh has jumped onto a new project of a different sort. "Knockout" tells the story of a girl from the slums who is given a second chance at life in the ring, although it will be more akin to a James Bond film than "Million Dollar Baby". Gina Carano of mixed martial arts fame is set to star. More on her and the project after the jump.

This will be Carano's first major film and starring role, although she's already appeared in smaller projects such as Ben Ramsey's straight-to-DVD film "Blood and Bone" as well as the video game "Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3" but it sounds like it was only a matter of time before the 27-year-old Muy Thai-trained fighter became big news. According to Variety, Soderbergh discovered her in the ring, a lightweight fighter with Hollywood beauty and seven victories (and only one loss) under her belt. Soderbergh intends to surround Carano with big name actors, but nobody specific has been attached of yet.

Soderbergh's schedule opened up when he pulled out of Columbia Pictures' "Moneyball" earlier this summer. "Knockout" is written by Lem Dobbs ("The Score") and will be produced by Soderbergh himself with Relativity Media.