It is, according to Ronda Rousey, “the biggest superfight in women’s combat sport history.”
And while nobody would claim that Rousey’s bout with Gina Carano, which was announced for May 16 yesterday, pits two women at the peak of their formidable MMA powers, it will undeniably be big business.
Here, The Athletic breaks down the details of the fight and its commercial significance.
What are the key details?
Rousey, 39, and Carano, 43, will finally face off at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, California.
The pair will contest a featherweight bout at 145lbs that is professionally sanctioned under the Unified Rules of MMA and contested over five, five-minute rounds using 4oz gloves, in a hexagon cage.
The event will be the first foray into MMA for Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions (MVP). Since Paul and his business partner Nakisa Bidarian co-founded the company in August 2021, they have produced 30 live boxing events, most notably Paul’s bout with Mike Tyson that streamed live on Netflix in November 2024.
Rousey vs Carano will also stream live globally on Netflix, marking the platform’s first MMA event. More events on the card will be announced at a later date.
Ronda Rousey was one of UFC’s biggest stars at her peak. (Paul Crock / AFP via Getty Images)
What have Rousey and Carano been doing since retiring?
Rousey stepped away from the UFC in December 2016 after losing to Amanda Nunes in 48 seconds at UFC 207 and went on to sign a full-time contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), as well as continuing her acting work by appearing in action film Mile 22.
Rousey, who gave birth to her first daughter in 2021, left WWE in late 2023, citing the gruelling 200-plus day-a-year travel schedule as unsustainable. The following year, she released an autobiography, Our Fight, in which she was critical of the WWE culture and working environment and also said she hid “concussions and neurological injuries” for years during her run as UFC bantamweight champion.
In 2024, she apologised for having reposted a video nine years earlier that spread conspiracy theories about the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, which killed 20 children and six staff members. She said it was “the single most regrettable decision of my life.”
After having her second daughter in 2025, she confirmed that she would not be returning to the WWE.
After Carano’s defeat to Cris Cyborg in 200,9 she pursued a career in acting, appearing in Fast and Furious 6 and Deadpool, among others. In 2018, she was cast in The Mandalorian, Lucasfilm’s first live-action Star Wars television series, but was fired from the role in 2021 for posting conspiracy theories and right-wing views, including an Instagram post that compared life as a Republican in the U.S. to being a Jew during the Holocaust.
Carano speaking at a Turning Point Action ‘United for Change’ rally for Donald Trump in 2024. (Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images)
In February 2024, she filed a lawsuit against Lucasfilm over her firing, alleging wrongful dismissal and sex discrimination. The suit was funded by Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X, Tesla and SpaceX. The case was set to begin on September 25, 2025, but in August, Carano and Disney settled their dispute.
Is it rare for two MMA artists of this age to be fighting?
Rare, but not unheard of. However, some previous instances have been fairly repugnant.
In women’s MMA, stars such as Holly Holm and Cris Cyborg have fought past their 40th birthdays, but neither one ever accumulated any of the ring rust that Rousey and Carano carry. Cyborg, 40, won her most recent bout in December.
On the men’s side, Randy Couture may be the name fans want to fondly remember for fighters starring in their mid-forties, as he famously became the oldest champion in UFC history at the age of 45 and tallied his last win as a 47-year-old.
But perhaps the most comparable match to Rousey-Carano may, sadly, be the trilogy between Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell in 2018. Weeks before Liddell’s 49th birthday, “The Iceman” returned to the cage after an eight-year layoff and was submitted with ease by the then-43-year-old Ortiz. It was a pitiful ending to their long rivalry.
Similarly, Nick Diaz and Robbie Lawler rematching in 2021 after 17-plus years since their initial bout made for arguably the worst MMA fight in recent history. Coming off a six-year layoff, the 38-year-old Diaz appeared gassed from the opening bell and was thoroughly handled by the 39-year-old Lawler.
Why are they fighting in a hexagon rather than an octagon?
For the sake of MVP/Netflix differentiating themselves from the UFC, which stages fights in octagons.
The decision could also be a nod to the days of Strikeforce, where Carano and Rousey both established their stardom in the now-extinct promotion’s six-sided cage.
The UFC stages fights in octagons. (Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)
As for whether there is any difference in the cage shape, the answer is most likely no. Some have argued that a hexagon allows for more mobility in the stand-up game since there are fewer corners to cut off, but it also leaves fewer corners for ground grappling exchanges to get caught in.
Aesthetically speaking, the hexagon is nicer on the eyes to some, but the UFC made the octagon so famous that the change in shape may look strange to fans in May.
Why is this fight significant?
Partly because it sees the return of Rousey, the most popular fighter in women’s mixed martial arts history, after a nine-year hiatus, but also because it is the first time that MVP and Netflix are entering MMA – a sport that has for so long been dominated by Dana White and the UFC.
White already has a history with Bidarian, who was the UFC’s chief financial officer, overseeing major fighter agreements, including Rousey and Conor McGregor, before playing a central role in its $4billion sale to the Endeavor consortium in 2016. Bidarian left the organization shortly afterwards, and last year told The Athletic he and White had an “up and down” relationship. “It’s become very clear over the past few years that he’d never really liked me,” he said.
The UFC signed an exclusive seven-year broadcasting deal with Paramount + worth $7.7billion last year, with the streaming channel looking to close the gap on Netflix’s 8.3 per cent share of television viewing time in the United States (in June 2025, compared to Paramount’s two per cent). Neither party will be pleased that Netflix, a former UFC insider and one of the sport’s marquee names, is now teaming up with MVP to show that MMA can exist outside of White’s world.
Rousey with UFC president Dana White at her induction into the UFC Hall of Fame in 2018. (Ethan Miller / Getty Images)
Netflix has found previous success in its boxing partnership with MVP, and to put together an event headlined by one of the biggest draws in MMA history just a month before the UFC’s much-anticipated card on the White House lawn is as strong a punch as the UFC has taken from a competitor in years.
As pundits continue to criticize the UFC as a starless entity in the years since Rousey and McGregor stopped fighting regularly, the fact that a rival promotion has grabbed one of the biggest names in its inaugural event is hugely significant — even if, according to Rousey, it had the chance to stage the fight itself.
“I reached out to Dana and asked him if he would be interested in it, and it didn’t exactly work out with the UFC, but it led us here to today,” she told ESPN Tuesday. The Athletic has contacted the UFC for comment.
How much is this fight likely to be worth?
The precise amount is unclear but many, many millions. That’s both in terms of dollars and viewers.
Carano has previously said she was offered $1million to fight Rousey in 2014. Some 12 years later, that figure is likely to have grown significantly.
Paul and Tyson reportedly both made more than $20m for their bout on Netflix, with undisputed lightweight boxing champion Katie Taylor taking home a reported $6m for her second meeting with Puerto Rican rival Amanda Serrano on the undercard. Serrano publicly claimed her wage was even bigger.
Paul and Anthony Joshua, meanwhile, each garnered over $90m for their fight in December 2025.
Rousey and Carano are not Tyson, Joshua or Paul, but we know Netflix has proved willing to open its wallet to put on the biggest combat events in the world. And the results have been industry-shaking: the streaming service reported more than 33m people watched Joshua knock out Paul, while it said over 108million saw the Paul-Tyson spectacle.
For comparison, the UFC said its debut on Paramount+ in January reached 7.18m households and set a company record by averaging 4.96m viewers.
Who is likely to win — and does it even matter?
Rousey has to enter as the betting favorite, but the answer to the latter question is a resounding no. Regardless of how either woman performs or who gets their hand raised, MMA fans will see Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano fight in 2026, and that’s an incredible victory for the fanbase.
Gina Carano fights Cris Cyborg in 2009. (Jon Kopaloff / Getty Images)
In terms of skill, Rousey is immortalized for using her judo and submission skills to set an extremely high bar for women’s MMA. By the end of her career, that bar was swiftly surpassed by the likes of Amanda Nunes, but Carano represents an even older era and will enter May with even more rustiness.
The most likely outcome feels like Rousey hanging up her gloves for good after this bout with a sentimental victory.