![\"Ronda](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/ronda-rousey-speaks-press-conference-125721958.jpg\")
Ronda Rousey speaks at the press conference for the Most Valuable Promotions MMA card at Palladium Theater. Ed Mulholland-Imagn Images<\/p>\nIf all goes according to plan, Ronda Rousey\u2019s return to MMA competition is one and done.<\/p>\n
The UFC Hall of Famer, who took women\u2019s combat sports to the mainstream with a tour de force championship run in the early 2010s, confirmed to The Post that her May 16 return to the cage against fellow pioneer Gina Carano is the end of the road.<\/p>\n
\u201cI promised my husband that I\u2019m completely done, and we want to have more kids, and I really just can\u2019t take any more detours,\u201d Rousey, 39, said during an in-studio interview Wednesday afternoon, ahead of the evening\u2019s press conference in midtown to promote Netflix\u2019s first streamed MMA event.<\/p>\n
Ronda Rousey speaks at the press conference for the Most Valuable Promotions MMA card at Palladium Theater. Ed Mulholland-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
That comes with the caveat that Rousey and Carano, the first big women\u2019s star to emerge in the sport nearly 20 years ago, don\u2019t \u201chave one of those fights that demands a trilogy or something.\u201d But as far as fresh foes, the headlining event for Most Valuable Promotions\u2019 first foray into MMA will conversely be her last.<\/p>\n
Rousey\u2019s reign of terror at 135 pounds spanned championship reigns in Strikeforce and the UFC from 2012-15, winning eight consecutive championship fights. The former Olympic bronze medalist in judo ragdolled accomplished women of her time, winning six of those title fights in 70 seconds or less and as quickly as 14 seconds.<\/p>\n
But after hitting a wall with consecutive losses to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes \u2014 a boxing hall of famer and arguably the GOAT of women\u2019s MMA, respectively \u2014 Rousey never felt the pull to take another fight but had never labeled her hiatus as a retirement.<\/p>\n
Since the loss to Nunes to close out 2016, Rousey entered the realm of professional wrestling with WWE and dabbled in Hollywood cameos. Of late, though, her focus has been on her family, which includes two young daughters and two college-aged step-sons with husband Travis Browne, who had a successful UFC heavyweight run that overlapped her own time at the top.<\/p>\n
Fighting again simply never appealed to her until now.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t feel it at all,\u201d Rousey said of any internal pull to get back into the cage. \u201cNot one little bit. Actually my coach Ricky [Lundell], he asked me to help him get his black belt in judo, and that got me back on the mat again.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI kind of put all these walls up because I felt like I could never fight again. I was dealing with some neurological issues, and just having to describe to somebody \u2014 because I never had to vocalize these kind of things \u2014 the system that I use, my philosophy of martial arts and things with somebody who really understands it at the highest level like I do, it really brought that joy back into it for me again.\u201d<\/p>\n
The inklings of an idea to fight again began to take hold, leading to the light bulb going off while she was nine months pregnant with her second daughter about 15 months ago that, yes, she would reach out to UFC CEO Dana White about a potential dream fight with Carano.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But Rousey has said the UFC ultimately balked at paying her a lofty sum she felt she deserved, leading her and Carano, 43, to take their business to MVP and its leadership, co-founders Jake Paul and Nakisa Bidarian, with the fight ultimately settling in as the main event on streaming giant Netflix emanating from Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif.<\/p>\n
![\"Ronda](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/ronda-rousey-squares-off-gina-125725269.jpg\")
Ronda Rousey squares off with Gina Carano during their MMA Press Conference at Palladium Times Square in New York City on April 15, 2026. JASON SZENES FOR THE NEW YORK POST<\/p>\n
Rousey-Carano was announced first, but Francis Ngannou and Nate Diaz have helped fill out a star-studded undercard in separate bouts. Each man has grabbed headlines since each woman last competed \u2014 Rousey nearly 9 \u00bd years ago and Carano almost 17 years \u2014 yet their clash is the one MVP and Netflix deemed worthy of headlining an MVP MMA event that could lead to a more regular presence in the sport, should this one succeed.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an honor Rousey does not take lightly, grabbing the top spotlight against other male luminaries of the sport, after all these years away.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt really gives me so much more respect for the men on the card, to have that kind of humility to let us be the headliner and to still be a part of this,\u201d Rousey said. \u201cThis idea came from a pregnant lady sitting on an office chair and having an idea \u2026 and I couldn\u2019t be more proud to be aligned with these men that are legends of the sport, that are believing in what we believe in and are dreaming the same dream.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I just want to have the most incredible fight ever to make them proud to be a part of this card as well.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If all goes according to plan, Ronda Rousey\u2019s return to MMA competition is one and done. The UFC…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":607293,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,146728,638,1316,1867,82,640],"class_list":{"0":"post-607292","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-gina-carano","12":"tag-mma","13":"tag-netflix","14":"tag-ronda-rousey","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-ufc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=607292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/607293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=607292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=607292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=607292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}