Gina Carano Set To Face Ronda Ronda Rousey In Marquee Match
In a move that has simultaneously confused and electrified the combat sports world, the two matriarchs of modern women’s MMA—Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano—are finally going to lock the cage door behind them. It’s happening. For real this time.
On May 16, at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, these two icons will finally duke it out in a featherweight bout that feels less like a sporting event and more like a tear in the space-time continuum. And because it is 2026, and nothing makes traditional sense anymore, it’s not happening on Pay-Per-View. It’s happening on Netflix, with the disruptor-in-chief himself, Jake Paul, playing the role of carnival barker/promoter.
If you’re scratching your head, you aren’t alone. But if you’re smiling, you’re probably an MMA fan who remembers 2014.
A Timeline Of Broken Dreams and New Realities
To understand the gravity of this, you have to rewind the tape. Before Conor McGregor was wearing Gucci mink coats and before Sean O’Malley had rainbow hair, there was Gina Carano. She was the “Face of Women’s MMA” when that phrase was still being whispered hesitantly by promoters. She was the Muay Thai striker who made it okay for the mainstream to watch women fight.
Then came the storm. Ronda Rousey didn’t just walk through the door Carano opened; she ripped it off the hinges and threw it at Dana White. Rousey’s run from 2011 to 2015 wasn’t just dominance; it was a highlight reel of armbars that lasted seconds, not minutes.
For years, the “Superfight” was the white whale of the UFC. White wanted it. Rousey wanted it. The fans were begging for it. But Hollywood called, weight cuts got hard, and the moment passed. Rousey went to the WWE and had a baby. Carano went to a galaxy far, far away in The Mandalorian. We all moved on. Or so we thought.
Now, at 39 (Rousey) and 43 (Carano), they are dusting off the 4-ounce gloves. Is it 10 years too late? Maybe. Does it matter? Absolutely not. This is the fight game’s version of the Beatles reuniting, even if the band is a little grayer than we remember.
Netflix Enters the Octagon
The platform matters here almost as much as the fighters. We are watching the shifting of tectonic plates in real time. The fact that this isn’t on ESPN+ or a $80 PPV is massive. Netflix is diving headfirst into live combat sports, and they aren’t dipping a toe in with unknown prospects. They are going straight for the nostalgia jugular.
Partnering with Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) adds another layer of modern absurdity to the mix. Say what you want about the “Problem Child,” but the man knows how to get eyeballs on screens. Paul called Rousey and Carano the “formative figures” of the sport, and for once, there is zero hyperbole in his statement.
What Can We Expect?
We aren’t tuning in to see if they are ready for a title run against the current generation of killers. We are tuning in for closure.
The fight is set for 145 pounds—a mercy for both women who likely didn’t want the torture of a bantamweight cut at this stage in their lives. It’s scheduled for five, five-minute rounds. That is a long time to be in a cage when you haven’t fought in years.
Rousey says this is the only fight she would come back for. Carano says she has an “itch to scratch.” Stylistically, it’s still the classic “Striker vs. Grappler” matchup that built the sport. But beyond the X’s and O’s, there is the human element. Both women left the sport on losses. Carano was stopped by Cyborg in 2009. Rousey was stopped by Amanda Nunes in 2016. Neither got the sunset ride into the distance they arguably deserved.
May 16 gives them that chance. It’s a legacy fight in the truest sense of the word.
