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After a decade of absence from the sport, Ronda Rousey is returning to mixed martial arts (MMA) for a fight with Gina Carano.
On Tuesday, February 17, Netflix announced that the two fighters would be facing off for the first time in their careers.
Both Rousey and Carano made a name for themselves in MMA before transitioning to acting. However, they are set to enter the hexagon cage for what is billed as “Netflix’s first-ever live MMA broadcast.”
Highlights
- Ronda Rousey is returning to combat sports after nearly a decade away in Netflix’s first-ever live MMA event.
- She will face Gina Carano at Los Angeles’ Intuit Dome, marking Carano’s return to the cage after a 17-year hiatus.
- Both former MMA superstars have impressive records and have contributed to changing the women’s combat sports scene.
Here are all the details of the upcoming bout that could shake up the women’s combat sports scene.
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When and how to watch Ronda Rousey vs Gina Carano?
Image credits: Netflix
Ronda Rousey vs Gina Carano is scheduled to take place on May 16, 2026, and will be streamed live on Netflix from the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles.
The fight is categorized as a featherweight bout (at 145 pounds) and will take place in a six-sided boxing ring. They will go toe-to-toe in five 5-minute rounds using 4-ounce gloves, following the Unified Rules of MMA.
The event is being organized by Most Valuable Promotions (MVP), a boxing promotion founded by influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul.
Image credits: Jeff Bottari/Getty Images
Netflix VP of Sports Gabe Spitzer described Rousey and Carano as “generational stars” and called their upcoming fight a “defining moment for” the streaming service.
In an official statement from Netflix, Rousey called it “the biggest superfight” in women’s combat sports history.
“This is for all MMA fans past, present, and future,” she added.
In the same statement, Carano revealed it was Rousey’s longtime “dream” to “make this fight happen.”
Ronda Rousey’s MMA career: From UFC success to WWE fame
Image credits: rondarousey/Instagram
Rousey, 39, first rose to prominence after winning a bronze medal in judo at the 2008 Summer Olympics. She started her MMA career in 2011 and became the Women’s Bantamweight Champion in 2012 shortly after joining the promotion Strikeforce.
Billed at 5.6 feet (1.68 m) and weighing 135 pounds (61 kg), Rousey gained wider success after becoming the first female UFC Champion in 2012. She contested 14 professional matches, stepping away from MMA in 2016 with 12 wins and 2 losses.
The UFC star ventured into professional wrestling with WWE, making sporadic appearances between 2014 and 2017, before signing full-time with the promotion. From 2018, she twice served as SmackDown Women’s Champion and once as Raw Women’s Champion.
Rousey left WWE in 2023 and, after a brief stint on the independent circuit, retired from professional wrestling in September 2025. She has also appeared in box office hits such as The Expendables 3 and Furious 7.
Gina Carano’s MMA career: The former “face of women’s MMA”
Image credits: Robert Laberge/Getty Images
Carano, 43, made her MMA debut with World Extreme Fighting in 2006 and later joined Strikeforce, where she contested in the featherweight division.
The Muay Thai-trained fighter was widely regarded as “the face of women’s MMA” during this time. In 2009, Carano and her opponent, Cris Cyborg, made history by headlining the first major MMA card with two women in the main event.
Billed at 5.8 feet (1.73 m) and weighing 143 lb (65 kg), she participated in 8 professional MMA fights during her career, retiring in 2009 with 7 wins and 1 loss under her belt.
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Carano transitioned to acting with a lead role in the 2011 action-thriller Haywire. From 2019 to 2020, she played Cara Dune in the Star Wars universe series The Mandalorian.
However, she was fired from the show due to controversial social media posts, but filed a lawsuit against Disney. The legal dispute was settled in September 2025. Her upcoming fight with Rousey marks Carano’s return to MMA after a 17-year hiatus.
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