Ronda Rousey has described next month’s comeback fight against Gina Carano as the biggest mixed martial arts fight of all time and said it will be a pivotal moment for the sport.
Rousey, the first American woman to win an Olympic medal in judo after winning bronze at the 2008 Beijing Games, was the first female fighter inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame. She successfully defended her bantamweight title six times before being stunned by Holly Holm in 2015.
“It’s not only the biggest women’s fight of all time… It’s something that’s going to happen once in a lifetime in MMA, it’s the start of something huge,” Rousey said during a press conference on Wednesday.
The 39-year-old said the fight was not “nostalgia bait or a money grab” but pointed to the commercial success of Mike Tyson’s fight against Jake Paul as proof that fight fans are still interested in seeing big names return to the ring.
The fight between Tyson and former YouTuber Paul in November 2024 attracted a global audience of 108 million viewers, making it the most-watched sporting event ever on a streaming platform.
Rousey’s fight with Carano marks boxing promotion company MVP’s MMA debut and will be streamed live on Netflix on May 16.
Rousey also fired back at current UFC women’s bantamweight champion Kayla Harrison, who called her irrelevant in a podcast.
“Gina is so relevant that she’s the only reason the 145-pound division exists. I’m so relevant that the only reason Kayla has a job in the UFC is because of me,” Rousey said.
“She has the charisma of a wet towel and will always be in someone else’s shadow. The next time she wants to speak, she should look at her feet and ask herself who paved the road she is walking on.”
Regarding fighter pay, Rousey confirmed that the minimum purse for any fighter listed on the MVP card is $40,000 and that it was “something the UFC can’t say.”
For Carano, 43, who hasn’t fought since a loss to Cris Cyborg in 2009, the experience was different this time.
“I feel real peace and real excitement. It’s not anxiety, it’s excitement – and that’s new to me.”
In the co-main event, former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou faces Philipe Lins, while Nate Diaz meets BKFC’s Mike Perry at welterweight.
