Ronda Rousey to return to MMA in May, will face gina carano in headline superfight
Ronda Rousey will make her first mixed martial arts return in nearly a decade when she meets gina carano in a headline bout scheduled for May 16 at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California (all times ET). The five-round, 145-pound fight will be professionally sanctioned under the Unified Rules of MMA and marks a major crossroad for two of the sport’s most prominent pioneers.
Event details and promotion
The card will be promoted by Most Valuable Promotions and is slated to stream live on a major global streaming service. The main event will be contested over five five-minute rounds inside a hexagon cage, with fighters wearing 4-ounce gloves. Promoters billed the matchup as a marquee women’s superfight, pairing two former stars whose crossover appeal extends beyond the cage.
Organizers say this will be the promotion’s first professional MMA event. The matchup reunites two athletes whose paths once seemed destined to converge: one forged a path inside elite MMA organizations and major combat sports stages, the other helped raise visibility for women in the sport before pivoting to a high-profile acting career.
What this means for Rousey and Carano
Rousey, 39, remains one of mixed martial arts’ most transformative figures. An Olympic medalist in judo who transitioned to pro MMA in 2011, she became the inaugural UFC women’s bantamweight champion and defended that title six consecutive times. Her professional record stands at 12-2; her last official MMA outing came in 2016. Since leaving the cage she has pursued professional wrestling, acting and writing, and was later inducted into the sport’s hall of fame.
Carano, 43, helped elevate women’s MMA in its early years. She compiled a 7-1 record in pro competition and challenged for the inaugural Strikeforce women’s 145-pound title in 2009. After stepping away from competition, she built a substantial acting résumé and has periodically teased a return to fighting. This matchup ends a 17-year retirement for Carano and represents a rare, high-profile comeback bout for a former star.
Both fighters framed the showdown as personal and historic. Rousey described the contest as a long-awaited super fight for the sport’s fans, while Carano said the bout fulfilled a mutual dream and that she expects a hard-fought night. Promoters emphasized the commercial significance of pairing two crossover stars who have both driven new audiences to combat sports.
Outlook and next steps
The announcement raises immediate questions about matchmaking, medical clearances and regulatory approval ahead of the event. Both fighters will need to pass commission medicals and meet licensing requirements to compete after lengthy layoffs. At 145 pounds, the bout sits at featherweight, where each veteran must show conditioning and fight-readiness across championship-distance rounds.
For fans and industry observers, the bout is as much a business event as a sporting one: it combines star power, nostalgia and a compact card-building strategy that leans on name recognition. Officials have said additional fights on the card will be revealed later, and the promotion will outline ticketing and broadcast details in the coming weeks.
Beyond the immediate spectacle, the contest will be watched for its competitive merits: will ring rust dictate the outcome, or can experience and technique blunt the impact of long layoffs? Either way, the May 16 event promises to be one of the most discussed moments in recent women’s combat sports history.
