MMA Fighting - BREAKING: Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano Fight SET For Netflix

Episode Date: February 17, 2026

Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano are BACK, as they face each other in an MMA bout under the MVP banner in May on Netflix. Following the massive news, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee give their reactions. Follow Mike Heck: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@MikeHeck_JR⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Alexander K. Lee: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@AlexanderKLee⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ http://goo.gl/dYpsgH⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Check out our full video catalog: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://goo.gl/u8VvLi⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Visit our playlists:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ http://goo.gl/eFhsvM⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Like MMAF on Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://goo.gl/nOATUI⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Read More: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. All right, Mike Hake here for MMAFighting.com. Happy Tuesday. And what a wild and wacky Tuesday it is, because moments ago, as we record right here, most valuable promotions, which is co-founded by Jake Paul, just dropped a bombshell on everybody.

Most valuable promotions is not presenting this boxing event on May 16th. They're presenting a mixed martial. arts event on May 16th. I don't know if it's an event, but they're presenting a massive mixed martial arts bout May 16th in Los Angeles, the combatants, Ronda Rousey versus Gina Carrano in a women's featherweight matchup at the Intuit Dome. It's going to stream exclusively on Netflix. It is going down. All of the build, all of the hype, all the hubbub is going to kick off March 5th, which is two days before UFC 326 with a press conference in Los Angeles. So we are getting Rhonda Rousey returning to mixed martial arts for the first time

since losing to Amanda Nunes in December of 2016. So nearly a decade taking on Gina Carrano, who returns for the first time in nearly 17 years following her loss to Chris Cyborg at a Strike Force event in August of 2000. This thing came out of nowhere. I can't believe we're talking about it. I didn't expect to do a reaction show today.

I'm actually visiting some family right now here in Dallas, Texas. But we got to do it. I brought my equipment with me. And joining me to react to all of this crazy news is this man, my best friend, the one and only, Alexander K. Lee, AK, how are you? And I guess the more important question, what are we doing here? What's happening? First of all, happy new year.

Happy Chinese New Year, happy Lunar New Year to all my people's out there. That is what I thought I would be focused on today, you know, the tradition of my people. I woke up, I think what? I logged on within 15 minutes. This announcement was made. This is absolutely insane. I know, you know, Mike and I, we were talking before the show. I was trying to remember, like, was this in the works?

Was there rumblings of this? Mike reminded me there was talk of Rousie coming back for sure. I mean, this started last year. She started putting out, you know, training videos and clips. like that. Anytime you do that, start going public with that stuff, you're going to have people, you know, talking, oh, is she going to fight again? What's her interest? She started doing some interviews, talking about stuff like that. Never committed, though, you know, never made it clear, but she was being cagey. There was no ruling out. There was never that firm like, oh, I'm definitely

not coming back. She made, she would, like, joke about it. So there was talk, but I didn't think, I don't know. I thought she was done. I thought she was done. However, Mike, I will say, I'm happy that a prediction I made years ago that she would fight again has finally come true. I made this probably after like she lost. I can't even remember where I was working at the time or who I was talking to. Probably after her last Nunes lost, you know, if the immediate question was, will she fight again? I think I stood firm that she would fight again. So technically this prediction, what now, 10 years later, what was it, 2016?

The Nunes, what was Nunes? December 2016. Yeah, so over nine years later now. the prediction has kind of come true. So point for me, Mike, point for me. I knew she'd be back. I knew after all the movies and all the pro wrestling and all to talk about retiring because of, you know,

concussions that she would be back. Are you surprised that MVP is putting this on and that it's an MMA bout? Because that was, I didn't see that coming. I first saw the announcement. I'm like, Ronda's fighting Gina Carrano in a boxing match because it was an MVP announcement.

And then I really looked at, I really read the release and I was like, it's a mixed martial arts ball. like MVP's getting into the MMA game, which is wild to me. And what a fight to really kick this thing off because not only does it have like hardcore MMA appeal because obviously everybody knows who these two women are, this has casual appeal like crazy from obviously Ronda just being a crossover star, her being in WWE, Gina Corrado, her being in the news and being in the Mandalorian and all that stuff. Like everybody knows who these two women are.

MVP to it putting this on. what was your reaction to MVP getting into the MMA game and doing so with this fight? You know, no matter how you feel about these guys personally, I mean, you have to give Jake Paul and Nikki Sabinarian and the whole MVP crew credit. Like they just put, they know how to put together these, quote, unquote, dream matchups or matchups you wouldn't even think of making and making reality. You know, look, listen, I never want to see Jake Paul fight Mike Tyson. that wasn't the thing I wanted to see.

I didn't really want to see Jake Paul fight Anthony Joshua, to be honest. I know a lot of people did want to because of what happened. But these are events that, like you said, might catch the mainstream eye, have people talking. This one will too. You know, maybe not the level of Jake Paul versus Mike Tyson. But it's kind of sad to say. It says as much about their achievements as it does sort of how far or how not far the profile of women's MMA has grown since, you know, since Rondo's retirement, that they're probably two of the most famous fighters,

the two most famous women's enemy fighters in the world still. Maybe Holly Holme has surpassed Gina Carano. You can certainly make an argument for Manna Nunes, or I would say Mennoniz obviously never really hit that next mainstream level of fame. But yeah, I mean, if you, let's say you pulled random people on the street and you pulled up, you know, 10 women's fighters, like the 10 biggest women's fighters, the majority would probably be able to name Rousia and Gina Carano. and not so many of the others.

So this is crazy. Like this is right, it sounds weird because, again, Rousey's not competed since 2016. Corona not since 2009. Their names are still relevant. Yes, because they've done stuff outside of fighting. But yeah, that's kind of the whole appeal of this match. You just have two extremely famous people, one of whom was very famous and instrumental in helping to build women's MA,

another legitimate mainstream sports superstar in her prime and still very well known today. So, yeah, I'm not surprised, Mike, to answer the main question. that it was MVP that puts it together because this is the kind of wild shit that this promotion does. Yes, and this will be a full-on MMA event now that I read the press release a little more close. This is the debut event. It's a five-round fight, five-minute rounds, four-ounce gloves. I don't know if there's going to be any particular that are like MVP women's featherweight title on the line. So it obviously opens up a lot of really interesting opportunities for women to compete in that division.

you know, the Chris Cyborgs of the world who are getting ready to wind down in like PFL. I mean, just think of like the possibilities we could have here. And then on top of that, like they're trying to build the rest of this MMA card. Are we getting Anderson Silva,

Chris Wydenman and MMA on this card? Like is this where we're going here? Did we sort of set the table with some of the MMA guys crossing over into boxing? Is Anderson Silva on this card? Is he going to compete in a mixed martial arts bout on this card, aka, if you had to take a guess. A lot of phones are ringing right now, Mike.

Oh, yeah. I guess we don't do that anymore. A lot of texts are being sent them. I'm sorry. A lot of notifications are popping up on people's phones right now because, yeah, that is how you should build a card like this. If you want to throw a couple of like, oh, you know, MVP signs, some prospects and wants to show. Okay, fine. If this has a prelim section, assuming it does have prelims, which it might not.

It might just be like a five-fight card, right? We don't know. But assuming, let's say it's like a boxing type event or UFC type event where there's actual prelims, yeah, fine. So those some guys in there. But we're talking about the meat of the main card. Absolutely, we're just going with established names. We don't need to sort of make more out of this first event than what it is, which is the start of Netflix getting to the MA thing with most available promotions. You're going to have a lot of eyeballs on here again who don't normally watch MMA.

I know we say that about a lot of events, but it really holds true for this one. And if you get a name like Anderson Silva, if you get a name like Chris Wybner, I'm just trying to all these kind of veterans they're probably trying to get a piece of this. I think you really build an intriguing fun card. How good will the quality of the fights be?

That's a separate question altogether. And again, not really important, I think, to what Netflix is trying to do. Again, as long as they, you know, look a few mismatches on there, get some big knockouts, really just build up properly to this. Don't, I hope. I hope Netflix does an MVP

do not try and do like a 10-fight, 12-fight UFC type card. Don't do that. Don't do a seven-hour, six-hour event. I don't think that's what they would want to do. That's not the vibe I'm getting from this. Seven fights maximum, two or three prelims, and then a four or five-fight main card. That's it.

That's your sweet spot. Boom. You are Bob's your uncle. You're nailing it if you do that. So that's what I hope it is. They should introduce some sort of title, Mike, but I think just a ceremonial one. I think just a one-off thing.

I don't imagine Rousie or Karano we're going to fight again after this. So I guess that's my question, you Mike. This has to be a one-off for both women, right? I don't know, man. I don't know. I mean, maybe under this banner, they just want to keep going? I mean, just think of the money they're going to make here. They can get Chris Cyborg involved, obviously, with either woman.

You know, the Rousy's Cyborg dream match is even bigger than this one. And then even Cyborg Carano, too, I think. would draw would draw some interest would dress me you could throw Amanda Serrano in an mima fight with one of these two you could she's done it before she knows how she knows how to mix the martial arts yeah let me here's the other thing that i thought about and i i don't know if you could put yourself in the spanned shoes you have far too much hair to do so what is day and white thinking right now seeing this like as we think his reaction is right as a recording this he's got to drop white house news right he's in the next he has to has to if not tonight what is it maybe maybe we should

thank we should thank jake and de kesa for doing this to like you know pedal to the metal over there at uh ufc hq where's my where's my uh ufc tweet uh dana white has an announcement on instagram later today where is it where how is it we they are slow on the trigger man like i know west coast time it's a bit early but jeez louise can we can we get on this yeah uh the timing seems perfect dana has been saying or not saying i'm not sure he's got dancing around he said the card was set but it's like also it still needs to be finalized. I'm very unclear on how set the UFC White House card is. And again, what actual fights there will be.

I think we're getting, I think we all have some idea of what makes sense. But nothing's official. Literally nothing has been made official as far as fights goes. So within the next 40 hours, yes, hopefully Jake Paul and company have jostled Dana White and his crew into action. Because, yeah, we got to get some fights happening. But he has to be surprised by this. He is good friends with Ronda. I'm sure there's a part of him.

You know, it was happy for her. I'm sure she's getting the bag for this, as the kids say. So I'm sure he's happy for her, but I'm sure there'll also be some tense conversations as well the next time. Like, what the hell? We couldn't have made this happen. We couldn't have made this happen for me, right? I know what's going on? So as spiteful as I'm sure Uncle Dana can be.

I think he's mostly happy for her. But he's got to get his ass movie now promoting because this might be the – it's not going to be bringing the U.S. White House. It isn't. But the fact that it's in the conversation as far as mainstream popularity, goes is kind of weird and also adding in the whole Netflix factor that you know hey Tyson versus Paul was huge because there's on Netflix the watchability same with this someone's curious what anime never really seen an MMA event before

everyone has a Netflix subscription now guess what so can tune in they tune in a lot of people will is this the biggest MMA fight of the year like when we get to the end it may not deliver like a great fight but when it's all sudden done are we talking about it doesn't matter what the white house brings the white house can just be it's just it's it's the location of the White House card that's going to build that. Like, we already know that there's no chance that this, their lineup that they're going to put together is going to live up to the hype that everybody put on. It's just, there's just no way.

And I kind of feel like no matter what they put together, it's kind of going to be a dud in a lot of people's eyes just because of the overhype and, and, oh, we're going to knock your socks off with this and everybody's socks stay on. And I hope I'm wrong. I hope they put together like the biggest event ever. Yes. But at the end of 2026 and we're talking awards and we're refurb. reflecting back, are we talking about, man, Ronda Ronda Ronda versus Gina Corona was the biggest

MMA fight by far this year? Man, it's difficult because, you know, I haven't been speaking from the perspective enough of, like, you know, the dedicated, hardcore fight fan, like the one who keeps up with all the advance, because honestly, to the, you know, a lot, let's let me put this way, a lot of the esteemed viewers and listeners of M.A. fighting. I think they're intrigued by this sort of matchup, but they're also right to scoff at it. I mean, these are two fighters, Listen, great athletes, no disrespect, well past their prime. I think any athlete that's near their 40s in most sports would be considered past their prime.

So it's not an insult to them at all. So I think, again, your more serious fight fan is doing this for what it is. Like a kind of cool exhibition. I mean, it's a pro bout, but a kind of a cool exhibition. Maybe a farewell to Rhonda Rousey, farewell to Gina Krona, if you have some sort of, you know, great attachment to these fighters. So I think in that sense, I don't think it can be bigger than, let's say, if UFC gave us Alex Pereira versus John Jones. You know, your average fight fan cares way more about that fight than Karano, Razi versus Karano. Even Ilya versus Islam, if they were able to make that happen this year.

What, what, Alex, John Jones versus Tom Aspinoff, they were going to make that happen this year. For the real fight fan, those would be bigger fights than Razzie Karano. But in the big picture, the UFC cannot, I don't even think they can put together a fight that is bigger mainstream-wise that would get more casual eyeballs in this one. All the three fights I just mentioned. I love Poetan. Your average sports fan does not know who Alex Bennett is. Your average sports fan probably doesn't know John Jones is still fighting. Like he's just been so sporadic over the last years.

Your average sports fan definitely does not know, at least in North America. I know he has a big presence, of course, internationally. Ilya is not like a household name. Ronda Rousey is a household name. Even to this day, again, plus because her movie stuff, because of her WWE exposure and because of that crazy UFC run where she was just drawing massive amounts of eyeballs. So individual fight-wise, and we're talking big picture,

I don't think the UFC can put together a bigger fight. I don't know what it could be. Last question. True or false, Jake Paul competes in an MMA fight this year, now that he has his own MMA promotion. This year? No, false, not this year. Okay.

Does it renew my belief that he will actually fight an M.A fight? I think he has to now. I think, and I think the boxing, I don't want to call it a grift, but the boxing run can only go solo. long. After getting his job broken, that was not a good time. Not that you can't get badly hurt in MMA, there's a million ways to get injured in an MMA.

But it would be a new challenge. It would be he could be able to fight in a different way, maybe not take so many blows to the head, but we'll see. Mike, who wins? Where's a prediction? I'll go Ronda Rousie. Okay, I'm not going to hold you to that. Listen, we'll have plenty of time before this fight actually happens.

Fingers crossed. Everyone stays healthy. You're going Ronda Rousey. Yeah, I think Ronda Rousie destroys for Gina Krodot. That's... I don't know. I don't know. It's so wacky and weird.

I just don't know. One good hit. One good hit could change the whole thing. Rousy herself has said, man, her head was not doing great near the end of that WWE run after all the UFC stuff. So one good punch, I don't know. But I think Rousey theoretically just kill her. Yeah.

I'm curious what the opening odds will be for this. But yes, it is going down. It is going down on Netflix. May 16th, the press conference, May 5th, in Los Angeles. Didn't think we'd be doing a reaction to this today, but here we are, ladies and gentlemen. We are here.

Rhonda Rousey v. Gina Carrano is a thing that is happening. It was on your bingo card. Congratulations. You have the weirdest bingo card I've ever seen. Collect your $25 gift certificate. For A.K. I am Mike Heck. Thank you, everybody, for watching. We're out of here.

Obviously, we'll see you on May 16th. This is unbelievable. Thank you.