© Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images
The UFC and Dana White apparently weren’t very interested in hosting the upcoming Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano fight.
On Tuesday, Netflix and Jake Paul’s MVP Promotions shocked the MMA world by announcing they were promoting an MMA fight between Rousey and Carano later this year.
A LEGACY SHOWDOWN 🔥 #RouseyCarano
RONDA ROUSEY vs. GINA CARANO
Saturday May 16
LIVE only on Netflix— Netflix Sports (@netflixsports) February 17, 2026
In an interview with ESPN, Rousey revealed why she decided to take on Carano, nearly 10 years after retiring from MMA.
“I was nine months pregnant, and I saw a video of Gina Carano giving an interview and she didn’t look good,” Rousey said. “She gained an unhealthy amount of weight and my first thought was ‘oh my god, what can I do to help?’ The reason why I had that thought was because she’s the one woman not only in MMA that doesn’t owe me a damn thing but that I owe immensely. I’m always trying to look out what I could do for her.
“When I was in a similar spot and depressed and gave up on the world and invertly gave up on myself, what I needed was a goal and something to reignite my passion again. I always said that Gina’s the one person that I would come back to fight for. I thought you know what, she needs this. She needs this fight. The more I thought about it, I was like I need this. I really need this fight.”
“I 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.”
According to Rousey, she reached out to White about making the fight in the UFC, and they couldn’t agree to fight terms.
“I reached out to Dana [White] and asked if he would be interested in it, It didn’t exactly work out with the UFC, but it led us to here today.”
Ronda Rousey appears on SportsCenter. Says she was inspired to do this for Gina and herself. Reached out to Dana about this fight, but it didn’t work out. pic.twitter.com/hnizIHMV4B
— Oscar Willis (@oscarswillis) February 17, 2026
Rousey spoke about partnering with Jake Paul’s promotion in a press release.
“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!” said Ronda Rousey. “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”