Ronda Rousey talks potential UFC return and if Gina Carano fight will be her last

Ronda Rousey | AEW

Ronda Rousey has confirmed that her fight against Gina Carano this weekend will very likely be her last. Appearing on The Ariel Helwani Show to promote the Netflix fight for MVP, Rousey admitted that this was it for her and she would not be returning to the UFC or any other promotion to fight again.

Rousey has not been in competitive MMA for some time, with her last UFC appearances being her losses to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes in 2015 and 2016 respectively.

There is currently no indication that Rousey will be returning to pro wrestling either, with her mentioning during the interview with Helwani that she wants to start having more children with her husband Travis Browne as soon as possible, ruling her out of any combat sports or wrestling in the near future.

Ronda Rousey on potential UFC Return

“To the UFC, to fight? No. I promised my husband that this is the last one. He is the one that I have to convince to get on board with this promoter shit after. He’s not going for the fighting at all after this. Honestly, I want to get started having babies again right away. I want to have at least two more, if I can. I can’t be taking detours anymore. This is the peak. I can’t go higher than this. This is the dream fight and the absolute pinnacle for me. This is the perfect way to end it.

Credit to MMANews for the transcription

Rousey recently appeared in AEW alongside her long time friend Marina Shafir, although that was a one-off appearance to help promote this upcoming Netflix broadcast rather than a match in All Elite Wrestling.

FAQ and context

Is this really Ronda Rousey’s last fight?

By her own words, yes. Rousey told Ariel Helwani plainly: “I promised my husband that this is the last one.” She also called the Carano bout “the peak” and “the absolute pinnacle.” Combat sports retirements have a habit of getting unretired, but everything Rousey said on the show pointed to a hard stop.

How long has Rousey been out of MMA?

Her last sanctioned MMA bout was the Amanda Nunes loss at UFC 207 on 30 December 2016. The Carano fight is her first combat sports appearance since, and, if she’s to be believed, her last.

Where is the Rousey vs Carano fight being shown?

On Netflix, as part of the streamer’s ongoing push into live combat sports.

Jake Skudder
Jake Skudder

Jake is an SEO-minded Football, Combat Sports, Gaming and Pro Wrestling writer, successful Editor in Chief, Sports SEO Coordinator for NationalWorld and SEO Writer for F4Wonline.com. He has more than ten years of experience covering mixed martial arts, pro wrestling, football and gaming across a number of publications, starting at SEScoops in 2012 under the name Jake Jeremy. His work has also been featured on Wrestling Headlines, Wrestlingnewsco, HotNewHipHop, The Hard Times and Sportskeeda.

Previously, he worked as the Editor in Chief of 24Wrestling, building the site profile with a view to selling the domain, which was accomplished in 2019. Jake was previously the Editor in Chief for FightFans, a combat sports and pro wrestling site that was launched in January 2021 and broke into millions of pageviews within the first two years. He previously worked for Snack Media and their GiveMeSport site, creating Evergreen and Trending content that would deliver pageviews via Google as the UFC and MMA SEO Lead. Jake managed to take an area of GiveMeSport that had zero traction on Organic and push it to audiences across the globe. Jake also has a record of long-term video and written interview content with the likes of the Professional Fighters League, ONE and Cage Warriors, working directly with the brands to promote bouts, fighters and special events.

He previously worked for the (then) biggest independent wrestling company in the UK, PROGRESS Wrestling, as PR Head and Head of Media across the social channels of the company.