Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano are set to face off for the first time in a featherweight bout!
Ronda Rousey poses for photographers during an event for UFC 207, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2016, in Las Vegas. Rousey is scheduled to fight Amanda Nunes in a mixed martial arts women’s bantamweight championship bout Saturday in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
“Two MMA legends are coming to Netflix,” the streamer announced Tuesday morning on social media.
FILE – Gina Carano attends the LA premiere of “The Mandalorian” at El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles, Nov. 13, 2019. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)
UFC Champion and Olympic medalist Rousey (12-2, 9 submissions, 3 KOs) and combat sports trailblazer Carano (7-1, 1 submission, 3 KOs), will compete in a hexagon cage over five 5-minute rounds with 4-ounce gloves. This fight marks Rousey’s return to MMA in almost a decade, while Carano’s was almost 16 years ago.
“Been waiting so long to announce this: Me and Gina Carano are gonna throw down in the biggest super fight in women’s combat sport history!” Rousey said. “And we’re partnering with the fighter-first promotion MVP as well as the biggest and baddest streamer on the planet, Netflix. This is for all MMA fans past, present and future. More to come much more.”
Professional wrestler Ronda Rousey speaks at a press conference in East Rutherford, N.J., Friday, March 16, 2018.(Marko Georgiev/The Record via AP, File)
The historic fight will take place on May 16 at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California.
The duo is set to meet face-to-face in a press conference on March 5 at the venue, which will be hosted by combat sports journalist Ariel Helwani.
FRANKLIN, TENNESSEE – JUNE 13: Gina Carano attends the cast screening of “Terror On The Prairie” at AMC DINE-IN Thoroughbred 20 on June 13, 2022 in Franklin, Tennessee. (Photo by Danielle Del Valle/Getty Images for Daily Wire)
The fight in a collaboration between Netflix and Most Valuable Productions, which was established by boxer and influencer Jake Paul.
“Surreal moment. I started taking judo because of Ronda Rousey. Now I get to work with her and Gina Carano to bring MMA to Netflix. Here we go” Paul wrote on X.
FILE – In this Dec. 30, 2016, file photo Ronda Rousey stands in the cage after Amanda Nunes forced a stoppage in the first round of their women’s bantamweight championship mixed martial arts bout at UFC 207 in Las Vegas. Rousey’s next fight could come in a WWE ring. WWE executive Paul Levesque, better known as wrestling superstar Triple H, had dinner with Rousey in Los Angeles on Tuesday night, Jan. 8, again fueling speculation that UFC’s biggest female star could leave the octagon for a career in sports entertainment. “We are talking to Ronda, as we’ve been for a while,” Levesque told The Associated Press by phone on Wednesday. “She has a lot of things going on. We have a lot of things going on. But we have a great relationship with her, a very friendly standpoint for a long period of time now. It was great to catch up with her.” (AP Photo/John Locher, File)
Rousey, 39, is the first American woman to win an Olympic medal in judo and went on to completely transform the world of MMA with her record-setting career with the UFC, where she became Bantamweight Champion. She is also the first woman to be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame. Later on, she took her talents to the WWE, where she debuted at WrestleMania 34 and headlined WrestleMania 35. She also took to acting, appearing in “Fast and the Furious” and “The Expendables” franchises.
This Oct. 19, 2019, file photo shows Gina Carano at the Disney Plus launch event promoting “The Mandalorian” at the London West Hollywood hotel in West Hollywood, Calif. In a statement Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021, Lucasfilm said Carano is no longer a part of “The Mandalorian” cast after many online called for her firing over a social media post that likened the experience of Jews during the Holocaust to the U.S. political climate. (Photo by Mark Von Holden/Invision/AP, File)
Carano, 43, started her career in Muay Thai and later transitioned into MMA, where she was dubbed the “Face of Women’s MMA.” She headlined the first major MMA event featuring two women in the main event alongside Cyborg in 2009, making it a landmark moment in women’s MMA visibility. She also made the move into acting, appearing in “Haywire,” “Fast & Furious 6,” “Deadpool,” and “The Mandalorian.”
She was ultimately fired from “The Mandalorian” after a series of controversial Instagram posts resurfaced.
Professional wrestler Ronda Rousey speaks at a press conference in East Rutherford, N.J., Friday, March 16, 2018.(Marko Georgiev/The Record via AP, File)
Tickets go on sale on March 5 at Ticketmaster.com. Fans can sign up right now for presale at www.rouseycarano.com.
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