"Dana gave me a call, he said 'Ronda's pregnant,' I think she was nine months pregnant, and 'she wants to fight, and the only one she wants to fight is you.' At that time, I was extremely sick in my body, had a couple of tough, rough years like I think a lot of us did have. And at that time I was like 'you know what? Absolutely.'"
"It's healing, it's exciting, it's everything I could have hoped for. I didn't know I needed this so bad. While she might be best known these days for her work on Disney's The Mandalorian, Carano was a women's fighting pioneer, though she has not competed since a loss to Cris Cyborg in 2009."
"I never thought I would come back. It didn't cross my mind at all. I think it kind of started with my now coach Ricky [Lundell], who was originally my mortal enemy - he was coaching against me on The Ultimate Fighter - he was also coaching my husband Travis Browne, he convinced me to give him a chance and we became friends over the years."
Ronda Rousey announced her comeback fight against Gina Carano, scheduled for May 2025 at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles under Jake Paul's Most Valuable Promotions banner and streaming on Netflix. Carano revealed that Rousey initiated contact while pregnant, expressing that Carano was the only opponent she wanted. Carano, who has not competed since 2009, described the opportunity as healing and therapeutic after difficult years. Rousey, a former UFC women's bantamweight champion and Hall of Famer who retired in 2016 and later pursued professional wrestling, never anticipated returning to fighting. Her coach Ricky Lundell, formerly her rival, played a key role in convincing her to pursue the comeback.
Read at Cageside Press
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