After a nearly decade-long retirement, Ronda Rousey is coming back to MMA.
The former UFC bantamweight champion announced her return in a statement to ESPN on Tuesday, February 17, revealing she will square off against fellow retired legend Gina Carano in May.
“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!” the statement read. “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, has not competed since 2016 when she lost a fight to Amanda Nunes by knockout. Despite her inauspicious exit, Rousey is remembered as a trailblazer for women in MMA. She made her debut in 2011 and won 11 of her first 12 fights in the first round, including three in a row that lasted less than a minute. 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. And her versus Gina Carano is the perfect combination to enthrall the masses and truly deliver a global night of MMA for all constituents.”
Carano, 43, has had a similarly historic impact on women in the sport. From 2006 to 2009, she was known as the “face of women’s MMA” as she and Cris Cyborg became the first women to headline a major MMA event in Carano’s final fight before she, herself, retired.
“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 a statement. “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.”
The two will do battle on May 16 at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California. It will stream live on Netflix as the first professional MMA event promoted by Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions.
Though Rousey and Carano’s careers did not overlap — until now — Rousey has always held a deep respect for her upcoming opponent. She told Luxury Handbag Shopping exclusively in 2023 that Carano would be her dream opponent.
“My dream opponent would be Gina Carano,” she said. “She’s a pioneer for women’s MMA, and I can’t think of a better way to say thank you than to whoop her ass.”
A year after her retirement, Rousey married UFC fighter Travis Browne. The couple now share two children, welcoming daughters La’akea in 2021 and Liko’ula in 2025. (Browne is also a father to sons Keawe and Kaleo from a previous relationship.)
