Ronda Rousey’s return to MMA came as a surprise to many when the news broke on Tuesday, but there was one factor that was more unexpected than most – the fact that Rousey’s first fight since 2016 will not take place in the UFC, but at a Netflix event promoted by Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) brand.
Rousey, 39, will face women’s MMA trailblazer Gina Carano, 43, in a five-round featherweight bout on May 16 at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles. The coveted pairing is the highlight of Netflix’s first foray into live MMA.
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Rousey is a UFC Hall of Famer and one of the greatest stars the sport has ever seen. An Olympic medalist in judo, she played a key role in UFC CEO Dana White opening the door for women to compete inside the Octagon. She subsequently defended the UFC women’s bantamweight championship six consecutive times from 2013-15, establishing herself as one of the most famous athletes of her generation.
In the years since her retirement, the common assumption has been that any potential comeback fight would obviously be in the UFC, given Rousey’s significant ties to the brand. According to Rossi himself, this was indeed the original plan.
Rousey told ESPN’s “SportsCenter” on Tuesday that she first brought up the idea of a Carano fight to White months ago to gauge the UFC’s interest. That pitch, Rossi said, “didn’t quite pan out.”
“I was nine months pregnant and I saw a video of Gina Carano being interviewed and she didn’t look good. She had gained an unhealthy amount of weight and my first thought was, ‘Oh my gosh, what can I do? What can I do to help?’ The reason I had that thought was because she’s the only woman who doesn’t owe me anything, not just in MMA, but I owe a lot. I’m always trying to figure out what I can do for her.
“When I was in a similar situation, when I was feeling down and giving up on the world and inadvertently giving up on myself, what I needed was a purpose and something to rekindle my passion. I always said Gina was the one I would come back to and fight for, and I thought, ‘You know what, she needs this. She needs this fight.’ The more I thought about it, I was like, ‘You know what? I need this. I really need this fight.’ I reached out to Dana [White] And asked him if he was interested in that – that didn’t exactly work out in the UFC, but it got us here today. “
In the history of women’s MMA, Carano is essentially Rousey before Rousey. In 2007, she and Julie Kedzie participated in the first women’s boxing match televised on Showtime. Two years later, Carano made history again when she and Kris Cyborg became the first women to headline a major MMA event.
Carano retired after that fight – a first-round TKO loss for the Strikeforce featherweight title – however, she and Rousey have been talked about as a potential dream matchup ever since Rousey began her reign as UFC champion. During Rousey’s prime, the UFC made several attempts to persuade Carano to return to MMA and compete in the era-defining fight, most notably in 2014, although these attempts ultimately failed.
“This has been in the works since I got pregnant, which was over a year ago. So it took us a long time to get here and it’s a long story that I can’t really tell you in a nutshell, but we fought for it. We fought with each other. There were a lot of obstacles along the way. . I told her, ‘If I had to personally train you to fight me, I would. ‘ We did it. We had to work together and overcome every obstacle to get here – it’s really surreal because it’s been a secret for so long that I can’t believe I can actually talk about it.
“I may not have as much collagen or cartilage as I did in the past, but I have more knowledge than I ever have, and I really feel like my skill and resourcefulness in the cage have always set me apart. That’s why every time I put my hands on someone, they never get back up. I’ve never been better at that.”
Rousey (12-2) last fought in late 2016 when she lost to Amanda Nunes, while Carano (7-1) hasn’t competed since losing to Cyborg in 2009. The two haven’t competed professionally in a combined 26 years.
