Nearly a decade after walking away from the sport she once ruled, Ronda Rousey is stepping back into an MMA cage, just not the one that made her a global superstar.
The former UFC women’s bantamweight champion and Hall of Famer will return at 145 pounds for a long-discussed superfight against fellow trailblazer Gina Carano, headlining a Netflix-streamed event promoted by Most Valuable Promotions.
As anticipation builds around the clash of pioneers, one question looms larger than the comeback itself: why isn’t Rousey doing it under the UFC banner?
“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,” Rousey told ESPN.
With the UFC not an option for Rousey who was looking for a matchup with Carano, she pivoted to MVP promotions. The fight that has been years in the making is finally on it’s way to fruition.
“This has been in the making since I was pregnant, which is over a year ago. It took a long time to get us here. We fought for this. We fought to fight each other. There were a lot of obstacles along the way,” she said.
“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.”
White was asked about Rousey training again late last year. While he addressed it he brushed off any thought of her fighting again, at the time.
“I think she’s just training again. She just had three babies and she’s in a whole other place in her life,” he said,
“But I will say this, she just had another baby and she’s in great shape right now. She’s freaking ripped like she used to be. I don’t know.”
Well if you don’t know, Dana, now you know.
