Ronda Rousey: I think the UFC 'is regretting' not making Gina Carano fight

When former UFC women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey made the decision to return for one last time, she contacted her former employer and pitched a fight against fellow women's fighting trailblazer Gina Carano. The fight promotion passed on the opportunity.

Rousey did find someone interested, though. On Saturday, she'll make the walk to the cage at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif. in the Most Valuable Promotions and Netflix's inaugural mixed martial event against "Conviction."

During Thursday's pre-fight press conference, Rousey said she believes the UFC is regretting their decision to not do the fight.

"I think they're regretting not making it happen now because there's no way that they could have seen how this one fight would reverberate to creating this entire card and being MVP into MMA and Netflix into MMA," Rousey said.

"I think because when I first sat down in that office and I was lactating, he didn't think I was to be taken seriously. but I'm to be taken the most f**king seriously while I'm lactating.

"And I think it's incredible that Jake [Paul] and Nakisa [Bidarian], they made a priority to put the fighters first and to give them, you know, more of the profit share. I actually get to see some of those numbers now and it's incredible how giving they've been and how they really want to showcase the fighters first before anything else. They don't want the brand to overshadow us. They want to showcase us."

When Rousey was in the UFC, it had different owners. It was a different atmosphere and a different business model. She has no loyalty to the current company but recognized what the previous owners and executives did for her career.

"I would want to make something abundantly clear and that's that I owe Dana [White] and the Fertittas immensely and I'd be caught dead before you ever heard me say a bad thing about any of them," Rousey said.

"But my loyalty is to them and not the company they sold. And I do not owe TKO's UFC a damn thing."

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This story was originally published May 15, 2026 at 1:36 AM.