Ronda Rousey scored a stunning 17-second victory over Gina Carano in both MMA legends’ return to the combat sport for Netflix.
The heavily-anticipated fight took place on Saturday, May 16, at the the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, under the banner of Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions. (Carano, 44, last fought in August 2009 when she lost by TKO to Cris Cyborg in the first round. Rousey, 39, most recently competed in December 2016 when she lost via TKO to Amanda Nunes in 48 seconds.)
In Saturday’s fight, Rousey quickly trapped Carano in an arm-bar to score the submission victory less than 20 seconds after the fight officially started. The two MMA icons shared a tearful hug after their brief fight.
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“Gina is the person who brought me into MMA and is the only person who could have brought me back into MMA,” Rousey told Ariel Helwani after the bout. “She’s my f***ing hero, man. She brought me back home when no one else could … You changed my world and we changed the world.”
Asked whether there is any chance she will fight again, Rousey replied, “There’s no way I could have ended it better than this. I want to have some more babies and get cooking.”
Netflix’s MVP MMA 1 featured a stacked card where former Ultimate Fighter winner Nate Diaz lost to UFC veteran Mike Perry and ex-UFC Heavyweight Champion Francis Ngannou defeated Philipe Lins in a five-round heavyweight fight.
Rousey announced her surprise return to MMA in February after spending the last decade competing on and off in professional wrestling for WWE.
“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!” she said in a statement. “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.”
At the time, Carano said that a long-awaited dream match against Rousey was the only offer intriguing enough to bring her out of a near 17-year retirement.
“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 in February. “She thanked me for opening up doors for her in her career and was respectful in asking for this fight to happen. 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.”
Gina Carano and Ronda Rousey face off. Sarah Stier/Getty Images for Netflix
Speaking exclusively to Us Weekly in April, Rousey opened up about how her fight training has changed since becoming a mom. (Rousey and her husband, Travis Browne, share two daughters: La’akea Makalapuaokalanipō, 4, and Liko’ula Pā’ūomahinakaipiha, 17 months.)
“It’s definitely more fun because we’ve made having fun the priority, instead of just making it all about the result, experience be damned,” she explained. “It’s leading to better results than I ever could have had otherwise. Every day is fun. I feel like I have energy, and I’m not digging deep every single second of the day. It’s really a great time to share with them.”
Rousey went on, “Pō loves being on the mat. She’s gonna be so sad when we take the cage out, because it’s like a gigantic playpen for them, and she loves to watch me train. … She’s usually such a hyper kid. When I was a kid, my mom said the only way she would be able to sit down was if she put me in a box and sat on it. That’s how my daughter is.”
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“I was cursed to raise a child with as much energy as me, but man, when I’m training, she just sits there and watches, transfixed,” she joked. “She definitely wants to fight and has been asking me to. She saw some kids doing jujitsu and said, ‘I want to do that.’ I was like, ‘You will.’ I don’t want to push her in it too early.”
Rousey also touched on what could come next in her life and career now that she has stepped back into the MMA world.
“Me and my husband want to try for two more kids. I just want to make more little people. … Professionally, I feel like there’s nothing else I could really do that is worth taking time away from my family ever again,” she told Us in April.
