Ronda Rousey said she wants to “rewrite her ending” when she returns to mixed martial arts for the first time in a decade to face Gina Carano on 16 May.
Rousey, 39, and Carano, 43, met at a news conference in Los Angeles ahead of their featherweight bout at the Intuit Dome, promoted by Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions. The fight marks Rousey’s first MMA appearance in 10 years and Carano’s first in 17 years, with both fighters set to undergo additional concussion testing after concerns over their long absences from competition.
“The way things ended [in MMA] was really heartbreaking for me,” said Rousey told the media, including The Mac Life. “[Carano] inspired me to pick myself up and to go after the fight I always wanted. This is the biggest fight in MMA right now. This isn’t a charity card or nostalgia card, this is the biggest fight in the world. This is fate for us.”
Carano said the bout came about after Rousey approached her directly, adding that the opportunity carried more significance than other offers she had received. “Obviously the motivation to fight is Ronda asked me. She’s quite the charmer,” said Carano. “Other jobs came up like this but nothing is as important as this. To share the moment with her, we get to live once and this makes me feel so alive and super grateful for the opportunity.”
Rousey also said the fight had taken on wider meaning after attempts to stage it in the UFC failed. “When it didn’t work out with UFC we said we don’t need them, we can do it on our own, just trust me,” she said. “I thought it was just about me finding my love for the sport and her finding her fire in her eyes but now it’s become much more than that. It’s about changing the landscape of the sport and challenging the monolith that the UFC has become.”
The bout comes amid wider debate about the UFC’s business model, with Rousey criticising the organisation’s direction following its new media deal. “I have much love and respect for Dana, I wanted to bring this to him first,” she said. “Once the UFC moved into the streaming model it’s not about putting on the best fights possible anymore. Unfortunately now they’ve taken the reigns of the company away from [Dana] and it’s barely recognisable.”
The event also arrives as fighter pay and opportunities outside the UFC continue to draw scrutiny across the sport, with several athletes exploring commercial partnerships beyond the promotion. UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall recently signed a commercial and advisory agreement with boxing promoter Eddie Hearn to expand his earnings outside the octagon, while Jon Jones said this week he would not appear on an upcoming White House card after organisers failed to meet his financial demands.
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