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This Saturday will mark the end of Ronda Rousey’s nine-plus year hiatus from mixed martial arts, and if all goes according to plan, it will mark her farewell.
The 39-year-old may be the biggest female MMA star of all time, and she’s putting on one more show for fans as she takes on fellow legend Gina Carano at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, with the help of Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions.
“Yeah, I’m excited. It’s finally super real,” Rousey told PK Press Club Digital. “At first, we were training in secret for about a year. It was more like a year and a half at this point, but at least more than a year. And now it’s really bittersweet that it’s coming to an end. I had a great time. This camp was one of the most incredible experiences of my life.”
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UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey celebrates her victory over Alexis Davis at UFC 175 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 5, 2014. (Donald Miralle/Zuffa LLC)
Rousey, the first woman signed by the UFC to become a Hall of Famer in 2018, retired in 2016 after six successful defenses of the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship before entering WWE full-time. Rousey’s MMA record started 12-0 before losing her last two fights to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes, respectively., and nine of Rousey’s 12 wins have come within the first 70 seconds. All but one of the victories came in the first round.
It’s no secret that Rousey isn’t in her prime, but this camp “didn’t feel like a chore at all.”
“We made joy a priority — actually enjoying the process instead of just hoping the fun will come along the way,” Rousey said. “Before, everything was so results-oriented. Now it’s all about the process. And once we made that change, ‘Let’s make this as fun as possible,’ I started getting better results than ever. I feel better than ever, physically and mentally.”
“Before, I was very much of this old-school mentality that you have to suffer and make yourself miserable to be the best you can be. And now it’s like, no, I realize it’s not mandatory. I can enjoy this as much as possible, and that makes me the best me. Because I already know I’m bad. I already know I can dig deep. I’ve already paid all these dues, I’ve done all that. So I think it’s just so that it’s fun… good vibes only, everything revolves around me, there’s nothing else happening around me, no extraneous noise.
So why come back in the first place?
Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano pose after the press conference for the promotions Most Valuable MMA card at the Palladium Theater in New York on April 15, 2026. (Ed Mulholland/Imagn Images)
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“Gina, that’s the reason,” she said.
“I was nine months pregnant, about to burst, in an office chair. I saw her at her lowest, losing her body identity and being in really poor health. And after seeing Mike Tyson come back at almost 60 and become the most watched combat sports event of all time, I knew there was a huge demand and that these exhibition fights were the future of combat sports.
“When I saw where Gina was and I looked at my big belly, where I was, I was like, ‘You know what? A fight between us would be huge, not only for the world, but for each other.’ And I think that’s what combat sports need. This is what we need. And just like she inspired me to do MMA in the first place, she’s the one who inspired me to come back.”
Rousey said she “promised my husband and swore to my sister” that this was her last fight. Knowing it’s a farewell after nearly a decade away, all the emotions are on the line.
“That pounding in my chest, that nervousness, I know that’s what happens when I’m about to do big things. I’m not afraid of my own anxiety or my own fear, in a way. I wouldn’t even say it’s called that. I’m not afraid of how my body reacts to those things, because I know that’s what it does before I do something big. I’m on top of myself when I am under enormous pressure, so when I feel these symptoms of this pressure, I do not fear it and do not be afraid of it.
“It’s more like the launch sequence before the rocket takes off.”
Even though Rousey had a lot of fun, she still had one goal: to win. Certainly, “if there’s anyone on this earth that I would be willing to take my happiness and run with it, it’s Gina,” Rousey said.
“Because she’s the only person in women’s MMA who doesn’t owe me anything – and I owe that a lot,” she added. “And if this is the only way I can give back to him – to tell him the story of my life’s return – I owe him everything, all the prosperity of my life. If that’s the way it’s got to be, then that’s the way it’s got to be.”
But it won’t be easy.
UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey interacts with the crowd during the UFC Time Is Now press conference at the Smith Center for the Performing Arts in Las Vegas, Nevada on November 17, 2014. (Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images)
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“She’s going to have to snatch victory from my cold, dead fingers. Because I want to show her the monster she created. And I want her to be proud of me,” Rousey said.
“I want me to beat her, that will be the biggest compliment I can give her.”
