INGLEWOOD, California, May 17 – Former UFC champion Ronda Rousey made a spectacular return to mixed martial arts competition after nearly ten years away from the sport, defeating Gina Carano with her signature armbar submission move in just 17 seconds Saturday evening.
The 39-year-old fighter, who earned an Olympic bronze medal in judo in 2008, immediately went on the attack when the bout started at the Intuit Dome during the inaugural MMA event organized by Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions. Rousey quickly brought down the 44-year-old Carano and transitioned into the armbar position, leaving her opponent with no choice but to submit or face a broken arm.
The armbar technique became Rousey’s calling card throughout her championship run as UFC bantamweight titleholder, and despite Carano anticipating the move after 17 years away from competition, she couldn’t defend against it.
“Gina is the person who brought me into MMA, she’s the only person who could have brought me back into MMA,” an emotional Rousey stated during her post-fight interview before speaking directly to her opponent.
“You brought me back home … you changed my world, and we changed the world. And I will never ever forget, and I will never be able to pay you back enough. I’m so glad we finally got to share this moment.”
Carano expressed frustration that the match concluded so rapidly, but acknowledged that simply returning to competition after building an acting career over more than fifteen years was an accomplishment in itself.
“I wanted that to last longer. I felt like I was so ready. I felt so good. I’ve never felt that good, but I haven’t been here for 17 years, so I mean I wanted to. I wanted to hit her,” she explained.
“You feel a little unfulfilled, just because you didn’t get a chance to at least show the world what you’ve been working on, you know. I’ll probably feel that later. Right now, getting in the cage was a victory. Getting here after 17 years is a victory.”
The night’s other featured bouts saw lineal heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou deliver a crushing knockout victory over Philipe Lins, while Mike Perry inflicted severe cuts on popular fighter Nate Diaz to earn a second-round stoppage victory.
