Dana White seemingly wasn’t interested in holding the Ronda Rousey-Gina Carano superfight in the UFC.
Most Valuable Promotions and Netflix announced the bout would headline a May 16 event at Intuit Dome in Los Angeles. It would mark Rousey’s first MMA fight since her TKO loss to Amanda Nunes in 2016 and Carano’s first MMA fight since her TKO loss to Cris Cyborg in 2009.
In an interview with ESPN, Rousey revealed she reached out to White about the Carano fight at 145 pounds.
I reached out to Dana and asked if he would be interested in it. And it didn’t exactly work out with the UFC, but that led to us here today.
The UFC has not had a featherweight division since Nunes retired as champion in 2023.
Rousey also said in the ESPN interview that she had always wanted to give back to Carano, as Carano had done for her. The former UFC and WWE star admitted it felt like Carano “needed” this fight and that feeling went back to her believing she “needed” the fight, too. The 39-year-old elaborated on how long the fight had been in the works:
This has been in the makings since I was pregnant, which is over a year ago. It took a long time to get us here. It’s such a long story, I can’t really keep it short for you, but we fought for this. We fought to fight each other, and there were a lot of obstacles aong the way. I’ve told her, “If I have to go out there and train you myself to fight me, I will.” We made it happen. We had to work together to overcome every obstacle to get here. It’s really surreal because it’s been a secret for so long. I can’t believe I’m actually able to talk about it.
Rousey admitted that recovery would play a key role in her camp’s preparation for the fight. She joked that she might not have as much collagen or cartilage as she used to, but her knowledge will be an edge, as will her “technique” and “wittiness” inside the cage, which she felt set her apart in her career.
In interviews and in her memoir, Rousey has been open about her history of concussions, which she cited as the reason for her retirement from MMA and pro wrestling. She previously was reported to have been in negotiations for a boxing match against Katie Taylor before the Carano fight was made official.
