Fight fans may not have had Ronda Rousey coming out of retirement to fight Gina Carano on their 2026 bingo cards, but you know they are pumped about it. The longtime UFC champion surprised many when she announced she was coming out of a ten-year retirement to enter into one of the most “what if” fights in MMA history. 

Back in 2012, before the height of women’s MMA, Gina Carano was on top of her game. At a time when Rousey was coming up, winning world titles and armbaring people left and right, fans wanted nothing more than to see these two powerhouses fight each other. At the time the rumors flew, but the fight was never made. Rousey went on to make history while Carano paved a different sort of path for herself. Now they will finally meet inside a cage with the hopes of putting on the most watched mma fight of all time. 

About The Fight

Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) has been a trailblazer in boxing promotions in collaboration with Netflix over the past few years. The Netflix cards have found a niche audience and have been very popular and lucrative. Now, MVP is looking to make a splash in the MMA world. This card, since it is “free” with a Netflix subscription, will be in the running as the most viewed card ever. As compared to the PPV cards that are traditionally found in the UFC, this fight and the massive card behind it can be seen on the biggest streaming service in the world.

About The Fight Card

Rousey vs. Carano: The “Triple Headliner” Card

The event features a unique “triple main event” structure. Here is the full card as currently announced:

Bout	Matchup	Weight Class / Rounds
Main Event	Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano	Featherweight (145 lbs)
Co-Main Event	Nate Diaz vs. Mike Perry	Heavyweight
Co-Main Event	Francis Ngannou vs. Philipe Lins	Heavyweight (5 Rounds)
Undercard	Junior Dos Santos vs. Robelis Despaigne	Lightweight
Undercard	Salahdine Parnasse vs. Kenneth Cross	Flyweight
Undercard	Muhammad Mokaev vs. Adriano Moraes	Welterweight
Undercard	Lorenz Larkin vs. Jason Jackson	Catchweight (130 lbs)
Undercard	Aline Pereira vs. Jade Masson-Wong	Featherweight
Undercard	David Mgoyan vs. Albert Morales	Welterweight
Undercard	Namo Fazil vs. Jake Babian	Catchweight (165 lbs)

When And Where

The event is scheduled for Saturday, May 16, 2026, at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California.

The Impact Of This Card

This is a legacy fight. Carano (7-1) hasn’t fought since 2009, while Rousey (12-2) is returning for the first time since 2016. They both have something to prove to themselves and to the fans. But the fight is bigger than just the two of them. They spoke about this in a recent NYC press conference.

“I think that fighting for MVP and on Netflix, it makes this fight bigger than us,” Rousey said. “It’s a game-changer for the entire industry. And I think that this is going to… Everything’s going to be different for all of the fighters after this. This is an experiment that Netflix is undertaking, and I think that we’re going to outperform every single expectation on this card. 

Rousey recently made headlines by announcing that the “floor” for this card is $40,000, meaning even the lowest-billed undercard fighters will walk away with that minimum, a direct jab at the UFC’s standard entry-level pay.

“It is amazing to see how far the sport has come…I had knocked some doors down, she [Rousey] knocked some doors down, and now we’re knocking doors down together,” Carano said. “It’s just, I don’t know, it’s just magical.”

Rousey stated that every fighter on the stage with her and Carano at the press conference, which included Nate Diaz, Francis Ngannou, Mike Perry, and Philipe Lins, would be making their biggest MMA payday at this event.

So this fight is more than just giving the fans what they want; it is sticking it to the current MMA model, aka the UFC, and pushing the sport forward for all fighters, Rousey and Carano leading the charge.