Frank Rondel
Former UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey is set to make her long-awaited return to mixed martial arts nearly ten years after her last fight, as she prepares to face fellow combat sports pioneer Gina Carano on May 16 at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, reports customreceipt.com with reference to ESPN.
The highly anticipated matchup will headline the first professional MMA event promoted by Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions and will be streamed live on Netflix. Both fighters will compete at 145 pounds under the Unified Rules of MMA, featuring five 5-minute rounds with 4-ounce gloves inside a hexagonal cage.
“Been waiting so long to announce this: Me and Gina Carano are gonna throw down in the biggest super fight in women’s combat sport history!” Rousey said in a statement to ESPN. “And we’re partnering with the fighter-first promotion MVP as well as the biggest and baddest streamer on the planet Netflix. This is for all MMA fans past, present and future. More to come… much more.”
Rousey, 39, made history as the first American woman to win an Olympic medal in judo in 2008 and became the inaugural UFC women’s bantamweight champion following her tenure as Strikeforce’s last women’s bantamweight titleholder. Between 2011 and 2015, she dominated her division, finishing 11 of her first 12 professional bouts in the first round, including three victories in under a minute. Rousey defended her UFC title successfully six times, a record that still stands.
Her MMA career concluded after knockout losses to Holly Holm in 2015 and Amanda Nunes in 2016. She subsequently transitioned to WWE, where she became a three-time world champion from 2018 to 2022, and also pursued acting and writing, including roles in The Fast & the Furious and The Expendables franchises, as well as publishing a New York Times bestselling book. She was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in 2018.
“Ronda Rousey is a 1-of-1 athlete,” Nakisa Bidarian, co-founder of Most Valuable Promotions, told ESPN. “What other female has sold 50,000-plus tickets to an event and generated millions of pay-per-views? She transcends combat sports and represents the greatness that every young athlete hopes to achieve. Her bout versus Gina Carano is the perfect combination to enthrall the masses and deliver a global night of MMA for all constituents.”
Carano, 43, is widely regarded as a trailblazer in women’s MMA. Competing professionally from 2006 to 2009, she challenged Cris Cyborg for the inaugural Strikeforce women’s 145-pound championship in 2009, losing by TKO. After retiring, Carano pursued acting, appearing in films such as Haywire, Fast & Furious 6, Deadpool, and the TV series The Mandalorian. She has long hinted at an MMA comeback and will now end her 17-year retirement in this high-profile matchup.
“Ronda came to me and said there is only one person she would make a comeback for, and it has been her dream to make this fight happen between us,” Carano said. “She thanked me for opening up doors for her career and was respectful in asking for this fight. This is an honor. I believe I will walk out of this fight with the win, and I anticipate it will not come easy, which I welcome. This is as much for Ronda and me as it is for the fans and mixed martial arts community. What a time to be alive.”
A kickoff press conference for Rousey vs. Carano will take place on March 5 at Intuit Dome. Additional MMA bouts will be announced later. Paul and Bidarian emphasized the event’s significance: “MVP has always been driven by disruption and delivering the biggest moments in combat sports on a global scale. Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano are icons who helped build the foundation of women’s MMA. Following the success of our boxing partnership, we are proving that MVP and Netflix can create blockbuster live events in multiple sports that engage fans across generations. This is what we do.”
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