Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano will team up with Jake Paul for one of the biggest matches of the summer. In a shocking announcement on Tuesday, the two women’s MMA pioneers agreed to a super showdown on the first MMA card to be streamed on Netflix on May 16.
Rousey’s fight with Carano is expected to be a featherweight (145 pounds) bout at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles. Paul’s most valuable promotion will promote this historic card.
Rousey, 39, is one of the most compelling and influential athletes in MMA history. An Olympic judo medalist who turned her talents into a professional boxer, she played an integral role in UFC CEO Dana White opening the door for women to compete in the UFC. After capturing the Strikeforce women’s bantamweight championship in 2012, Rousey (12-2) entered the UFC and defended the title six consecutive times from 2013-15, becoming one of the most famous athletes on the planet in the process.
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Rousey’s well-publicized reign ended with two consecutive knockout losses to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes, after which she retired from MMA and transitioned into professional wrestling with WWE.
In 2018, Rousey became the first woman inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame.
Carano, 43, was the biggest star in women’s MMA history before Rousey arrived. In 2007, she and Julie Kedzie participated in the first women’s boxing match televised on Showtime. Two years later, Carano (7-1) made history again when she and Cris Cyborg became the first women to win a major MMA title, losing via first-round TKO in their lightweight championship match.
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Carano retired from mixed martial arts after the only loss of his career to pursue an acting career, landing roles in numerous film franchises including “The Fast and the Furious,” “Marvel” and “Star Wars.”
Rousey and Carano have been viewed as a veritable dream matchup ever since Rousey began her reign as UFC champion. The UFC has made multiple high-profile attempts to lure Carano back to MMA for the blockbuster fight, especially in 2014, but those attempts have proven to be in vain.
But after both women began teasing a near-simultaneous return to training in the second half of 2025, Carano’s coach – John Wooden of Syndicate MMA – revealed to Uncrown last December that Carano did appear to be testing the waters for a comeback.
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“I got a call a few months ago saying she wanted to get back in shape and start over and had a little itch that she wanted to scratch and see where it went. I said, ‘Of course,'” Wood recalled on “The Ariel Helwani Show.”
“Why wouldn’t you want to have a living legend who paved the way for a lot of women and a lot of fighters? [Carano] She deserves the respect she has earned. It’s great to have her in the gym. …When you’re a true fighter, which Gina is, it never goes away. Once you get back in the gym and start to realize, “Oh my gosh, I can still do this” – she can, man. She also has some pop music. “
More information on Rousey vs. Carano and Netflix’s first foray into live MMA is expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
