Getty Ronda Rousey
There’s only one fighter who would motivate former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey to fight again, and that’s Gina Carano.
Carano is a true pioneer of women’s mixed martial arts. She fought for the likes of Strikeforce and EliteXC, building a professional record of 7-1 between 2006 and 2009. After her last fight, she fully transitioned from fighting inside the cage to acting.
During a recent episode of “The Kurt Angle Show, Rousey first said “no” to an Octagon return. Then, the inaugural UFC women’s 135-pound champion changed her tune:
“There’s only one person I would come back for,” Rousey said ” via Post Wrestling.
“Rowdy” then threw out Carano’s name as someone who would pull her back into fighting. And Rousey made it clear that it’s all about her respect for the women’s MMA legend.
“I mean, I’ve said it a million times,” Rousey continued. “It’s not like it’s something new but, for Gina man. Gina Carano, she’s the reason why I got into fighting, she’s the reason why I knew it was a possibility. I will always be forever grateful… and if she ever was like, ‘Ronda, I wanna fight you tomorrow at 205 pounds,’ like whatever the hell she’d want — I’m not saying she’s 205 pounds — if she wanted to come into my backyard and do the Rocky thing or, you know, ding, ding and we just do it in the backyard, I don’t care.
“I will fight Gina wherever she wants and if she doesn’t want to forever, leave [that there]. It’s a respect thing, not like a, ‘F*** you. I’m coming to get you.’ It’s just like, hey, if you ever wanna pull that card out, it’s there. I love her. Thank you Gina for everything you’ve done.”
Both Women Are Retired From Fighting & Working in Entertainment
As mentioned earlier, Carano last fought in 2009. She took on Cris Cyborg for the Strikeforce featherweight championship and was finished via first-round TKO. It was Carano’s first and only loss as a pro fighter.
Carano is now a well-established actor, who is known for her roles in “The Mandalorian,” “Deadpool” and “Haywire.”
For Rousey, she finished off her fighting career with an 0-2 skid. After ruling bantamweight for years, she met her match with Holly Holm in 2015. She lost her UFC gold to Holm at UFC 193 by second-round KO.
She returned to the Octagon a year later to reclaim her belt. At that point, Amanda Nunes was the champion and she took out Rousey in the first round by TKO at UFC 207. That was the last time Rousey fought.
Like Carano, Rowdy took to Hollywood and she has been featured in movies such as “Furious 7,” and “The Expendables 3.” Rousey is also a WWE superstar.
Julianna Pena Recently Said It ‘Probably Truly Bothers’ Rousey That She Never Came Back Following the 2 KO/TKO Defeats
Reigning women’s bantamweight queen Julianna Pena recently took aim at Rousey’s legitimacy as a former champion. Speaking with “The MMA Hour’s” Ariel Helwani, Pena said via MMA Fighting:
“Ronda is so old news, right? I think that what’s incredible about her is that she opened up the door and was destroying people in 10 seconds, and became a star because she was demolishing people in the first round, and that’s great — but she got knocked out twice and never came back. So how legit is she?
“She had to go to pro wrestling. And I get that and I think that that’s great. But as a fighter and somebody who is competitive, I know that — deep down — it probably truly bothers her, the fact that she went away off of two knockout losses and never came back to make her name good.”