The MMA legend was adamant that the double comeback bout on Netflix would be her final fight
In a double comeback, Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano made history last night (16 May).
Their fight marked the first MMA event to be shown live on Netflix with the champ claiming it would also set a new purse record for female fighters.
Carano lost an incredible 100lbs in preparation for the bout but ultimately lost to the fellow American within 15 seconds.
Rousey was returning from 10 years out of fighting as she secured the win with her trademark armbar.
Her opponent had been out for a whopping 17 years, and the iconic pair hugged and shared warm exchanges afterwards. Carano may not be sure on what the future holds, but Rousey has made it clear that was her final fight as she explained why.
Rousey took the victory thanks to an armbar. (Sarah Stier/Getty Images for Netflix)
Rousey wanted to come out of the bout ‘as unscathed as possible’, having left the sport a decade ago after consecutive losses and repeated concussions.
She was one of the world’s most famous athletes in her prime, having won the first women’s title in the UFC.
During her time away, she settled into a life on her farm and had two children.
And in the build-up she said she wanted to ‘rewrite her ending in the sport’, with no one better to do that with than her ‘hero’ Carano.
After the victory, Rousey repeated the message she’d been sharing through the week about it being her final fight as she said: “There is no way I could have ended it better than this. I want to have some more babies and I have to get cooking.”
She had also said on the stage during the weigh-in: “I’m having some babies after this,” having promised her husband it was ‘one and done’.
Rousey confirmed the retirement immediately after winning, as the victory moved her to 13-2 lifetime and have her a clean exit.
It was all smiles as Rousey celebrated her final fight. (Sarah Stier/Getty Images for Netflix)
It’s thought she may stay in the sport in some way though as she has publicly aligned herself with Jake Paul and Nakisa Bidarian’s Most Valuable Productions (MVP).
So, she’s got a bit of a path set up for her, if she chooses to take it, in matchmaking, promotion and on-camera analyst work.
Having wanted Carano to make a comeback and to fight her, Rousey said: “She brought me back home when no-one else could, and she showed me where my home was. You changed my world, and we changed the world. I could never be able to pay you back enough.”
Featured Image Credit: Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images
Gina Carano immediately suspended from MMA after 15 second loss to Ronda Rousey
Gina Carano was hit with a suspension from MMA fighting right after losing to Ronda Rousey in just 15 seconds, but with good reason.
Rousey, 39, romped to victory on Saturday night (16 May), submitting Carano with an armbar within just seconds in their comeback fight after being absent from MMA for 10 years.
Prior to the bout, Rousey had said that she had wanted to ‘rewrite her ending in the sport‘, and called Carano – who lost an incredible 100lb in preparation – her ‘hero’.
Gina is a person who brought me into MMA, she is the only person who could bring me back into MMA. She’s my hero,” she said.
For her part, Carano said she had ‘wanted that to last longer’, but said it was a ‘victory’ to return to the sport 17 years after she retired.
But following the highly anticipated event, which was live-streamed on Netflix from LA’s Intuit Dome and earned the stars a pretty penny, Carano has now been suspended.
Rousey submitted Carano in the match (Sarah Stier/Getty Images for Netflix)
Why has Gina Carano been suspended from MMA?
Combat sports like MMA and boxing can take a big toll on an athlete’s body, which is unsurprising given that you are effectively beating each other up.
This results in bad injuries, including broken ribs and jaws, eye injuries, and of course trauma to the head.
So athletes are routinely barred from fighting for a set period after a match in order to make sure that they can properly recover.
Let’s put it this way – you wouldn’t go back to work with three broken ribs, so sporting bodies will bar athletes from competing for a mandatory rest period.
It’s unclear if Carano would actually want to fight again.
When asked post-fight whether she would go up against another opponent, she said: “I don’t know. I think 17 years was a lot. Being 44 years old is a lot and I don’t know if I can put my family back through that.
“But I’m going to go look at this, I didn’t get anything out, I didn’t get to do anything in this fight, so you just never know with me.”
How long does the suspension last?
Rousey called Carano her ‘hero’ (Sarah Stier/Getty Images for Netflix)
How long someone is suspended for depends on several factors, including the assessment of a ringside physician who will determine whether someone needs a rest period.
While some suspensions are just for a set period of time, for example one week, others require an athlete to meet certain conditions before being cleared to compete again to demonstrate that are fit enough.
There are different levels to suspension as well, depending on the physical condition of an athlete after a match.
One level, the lower, is a no competition suspension, meaning that the athlete can’t go into any competitive matches for this period.
However, they will be allowed to spar with contact during training.
The second higher level is a ‘no contact’ or ‘no sparring’ suspension, where someone’s injuries are deemed to be serious enough that they require a period of no contact sport at all to allow their body to recover.
These might be paired with a clearance requirement, such as being signed off by a doctor, getting certain medical scans, or even being signed off by a specialist.
Another example of such suspensions was in the fight between Jake Paul and Anthony Joshua, which took place last December.
Jake Paul said his jaw was broken in two places after the AJ fight (Instagram/@jakepaul)
This saw Joshua breaking Paul’s jaw during the bout, claiming victory.
Under boxing regulation, the fighters were required to have three days’ rest per round, and if someone has a technical knockout then they are suspended for 30 days to allow them to recover, while a full knockout is at least 60 days.
How much did Gina Carano get paid for the fight?
Despite being over in a flash, according to Forbes, the fight purses for both women topped $1 million apiece, with Carano reportedly scooping $1.05 million (£786,200) and Rousey earning $2.2 million (£1.6m).
This figure also doesn’t include any potential earnings from broadcast, ticket sales or bonuses, meaning the final payout for both fighters could be a lot higher.
Gina Carano shows off incredible 100lb weight loss ahead of Ronda Rousey fight
The fighter said she was ‘pre-diabetic’ and struggled ‘simply walking’ before turning herself ‘back into an athlete’
Tonight (16 May), at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, Gina Carano is set to fight for the first time in nearly 17 years.
And it will also mark the first MMA event to be shown live on Netflix as the 44-year-old faces fellow American, Ronda Rousey.
The fight has been two years’ in the making, as Rousey pitched the idea to the UFC back in 2024 as she believed it would be beneficial to them both. Negotiations stalled and the 39-year-old directly contacted Carano before the bout became real under Most Valuable Promotions (MVP).
So, since September 2024, the returning fighter has lost an incredible 100lb (7st 2lb) while training for the contest.
Carano weighed in at 141.4lb (10st 1.4lb) yesterday, saying she had worked ‘so damn hard every week for over a year and a half’ to drop the weight.
Taking to social media last night, she shared a ‘vulnerable post’ about her journey.
“If it wasn’t for having this incredibly challenging goal in fighting @rondarousey I most definitely wouldn’t have reached this,” she wrote.
“I was pre-diabetic, had trouble simply walking in September 2024 and have been on the path to recovery to turn myself back into an athlete since then.
“It was hard, SO damn hard.. there was so much to learn, too much to unpack here, ups, downs, plateaus, things I learned late I wish I learned earlier, trial by error but I did it.
(Sarah Stier/Getty Images for Netflix)
“Thank you to Ronda, who waited patiently while I lost this weight and giving me something to aim for.”
Carano added that there’s ‘so much’ she still needs to ‘learn and want to do in the health space’ as well as to continue with transforming her body.
“I pray this encourages you wherever you are in your health journey,” she said.
“Believe there is hope. Never give up.”
It marks a big return for both fighters. (Sarah Stier/Getty Images for Netflix)
Rousey said during the weigh-in that she believed in Carno ‘from the very beginning’. “I’m glad she proved everyone wrong,” she added, “and we’re gonna prove everyone wrong tomorrow.
Rousey herself is returning for the first time in 10 years and has said their fight will set a new purse record for female fighters.
“I’ve already won a record eight consecutive title fights, there’s nothing left for me to do in UFC,” she told BBC Sport.
“So now me and Gina are smashing the record for the most women have been paid in combat sports.”
But she also confirmed during the weigh-in that after the fight tonight, she’s finished with fighting.
“I’m having some babies after this,” she said on the stage.
Featured Image Credit: Sarah Stier/Getty Images for Netflix