Ronda Rousey is officially coming back. And this time, she’s doing it on her own terms.
Nearly a decade after she last stepped into the cage, Ronda Rousey will return to MMA to face fellow trailblazer Gina Carano in a 145-pound showdown. The fight will stream live on Netflix, marking one of the most high-profile women’s bouts in years.
“I reached out to Dana [White] and asked if he would be interested in it,” Rousey revealed in an interview with ESPN. “It didn’t exactly work out with the UFC, but it led us to here today.”
Before finalizing the deal elsewhere, Ronda Rousey made an effort to bring her comeback to the Octagon. UFC CEO Dana White previously addressed rumors about her return after footage surfaced of her back in the gym.
“I think she’s just training again,” White said at the time. “She just had three babies and she’s in a whole other place in her life. But I will say this, she just had another baby and she’s in great shape right now. She’s freaking ripped like she used to be. I don’t know.”
Ultimately, the UFC passed on the fight. That decision opened the door for Most Valuable Promotions, the company founded by Jake Paul, to secure the bout instead.
The matchup itself isn’t new. The UFC explored booking Rousey vs. Carano as far back as 2014, when both women were at the height of their popularity. Now, more than a decade later, the fight finally becomes reality.
According to Ronda Rousey, this comeback started long before the official announcement. In fact, the idea took shape while she was pregnant.
“I was nine months pregnant, and I saw a video of Gina Carano giving an interview and she didn’t look good,” Rousey said. “She gained an unhealthy amount of weight and my first thought was ‘oh my god, what can I do to help?’ The reason why I had that thought was because she’s the one woman not only in MMA that doesn’t owe me a damn thing but that I owe immensely. I’m always trying to look out what I could do for her.
“When I was in a similar spot and depressed and gave up on the world and inadvertently gave up on myself, what I needed was a goal and something to reignite my passion again. I always said that Gina’s the one person that I would come back to fight for. I thought you know what, she needs this. She needs this fight. The more I thought about it, I was like I need this. I really need this fight.”
Ronda Rousey admits the process wasn’t easy. Negotiations stretched on for over a year as both sides worked to overcome multiple obstacles.
“This has been in the making since I was pregnant, which is over a year ago,” Rousey said. “It took a long time to get us here. We fought for this. We fought to fight each other. There were a lot of obstacles along the way.
“I told her, if I have to go out there, and train you myself to fight me, I will. We made it happen. We had to work together to overcome every obstacle to get here. It’s really surreal because it’s been a secret for so long, I can’t believe I’m actually able to talk about it.”
Ronda Rousey hasn’t competed in MMA since 2016. Her UFC run ended after knockout losses to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes, which halted her meteoric rise. She later opened up about dealing with concussions and long-term neurological concerns.
Despite the long layoff, Ronda Rousey insists the pressure doesn’t faze her.
“I’ve been to two Olympics. Nothing compares to that kind of pressure,” Rousey said. “To train your whole life for one day. Everything else just kind of pales in comparison.
“It’s so funny, people who have never fought they’re like ‘oh it must be such a big deal getting punched in the face.’ But when you’re actually fighting, it’s not like you have an opinion about it. It’s just an observation you have at the time. That’s not what’s scary. I feel like the pressure of the situation, the result is what really gives you anxiety, not the physical pain that could come out of it.”
Now, Ronda Rousey prepares to step back into the spotlight, not inside the UFC Octagon, but on one of the biggest streaming platforms in the world.
Love it or question it, one thing is certain: Ronda Rousey’s return changes the conversation in women’s MMA all over again.
