Ronda Rousey Destroys Gina Carano in Seconds, Jake Paul Gets Booed in Netflix’s Spotty MMA Debut
A number of storylines came together late Saturday night when Ronda Rousey (12-2) collided with Gina Carano (7-1) in the Octagon. The featherweight bout, streamed live on Netflix from LA’s Intuit Dome, marked the first showdown between the two most influential female fighters in MMA history; the first MMA fight for Netflix, courtesy of Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions; and the latest stunt for the streamer involving boxers Good past their prime (Rousey, 39, hasn’t fought since 2016; Carano, who is 44, last fought in 2009, and claims she Lost 100 pounds to reach the 145 pound limit). Additionally, they both appeared as tough guys in “Fast & Furious” films, with Carano appearing in “Fast & Furious 6” and Rousey swinging to Michelle Rodriguez in “Furious 7.”
Then there are the social media posts.
In 2013, what feels like a lifetime ago, Rousey posted a conspiracy-filled video to her Twitter account claiming that the 26 victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting — twenty young children and six adult staffers — were paid actors, calling it “must-watch.” After a wave of backlash, Rousey deleted the video and wrote: “Asking questions and researching is more patriotic than blindly accepting what you are told.” More than a decade later, in 2024, she eventually apologized for the post, saying she “regretted it every day of my life.”
Carano’s post came in February 2021. In the throes of the COVID pandemic, she posted an image to Instagram of Jews being slaughtered during the 1941 Lviv pogroms, along with the caption:
Jews were beaten in the streets, not by Nazi soldiers but by their neighbors… even by children. Because history is edited, most people today don’t realize that to get to the point where Nazi soldiers could easily round up thousands of Jews, the government first made their own neighbors hate them simply because they were Jewish. How is that different from hating someone for their political views?
The post compared the fate of Jews during the Holocaust to modern American conservatives, minimizing the Holocaust. She had also made a number of posts mocking people for wearing face masks during the pandemic and questioning the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. Disney/Lucasfilm subsequently fired her from their Disney+ series “The Mandalorian,” calling her posts “denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities abhorrent and unacceptable.” Carano sued – in a lawsuit backed by Elon Musk – and ultimately settled with the House of Mouse.
And finally, their different political allegiances. Carano is firmly in the MAGA camp. In addition to being a conspiracy theorist of the 2020 election, she also spoke at a Trump rally in Las Vegas in October 2024 and accused the Democratic Party of trying to “destroy us.” Rousey, for her part, publicly clashed with Trump after the former reality TV host claimed she was a fan of his on the campaign trail in 2015. This prompted Rousey to distance herself from Trump, saying, “I mean, I wouldn’t vote for him. I just wouldn’t trust the man running my country, that’s all. I don’t want a reality TV star running my country.” She followed that up by endorsing Bernie Sanders for president. So Trump, the little prince, happily celebrated her UFC loss to Holly Holm:
Back to that fight Saturday night.
The festivities kicked off with a trailer narrated by Uma Thurman (objectively cool), and a handful of mostly non-competitive undercard fights (save for the always game and bloodied Nate Diaz), the crowd loudly booing MVP promoter Jake Paul at his own event, and the graphic display of Rousey’s age wrong, Rousey and Carano emerged minutes before midnight EST.
The biggest problem with these Netflix stunt fights, aside from the age and fitness of the fighters, is that the main event takes place forever to start. This is due to too many undercard fights, Netflix airing ads during their live events, and the streamer milking the whole endeavor for as long as possible to increase their viewership, as Netflix measures its viewership by views multiplied by hours watched.
Carano, who grew up in Las Vegas, came out for “Mr. Brightside’ by Vegas’ own The Killers, while Rousey chose Joan Jett’s ‘Bad Reputation’. The fight actually started at 12:05 PM EST – late even by Netflix standards – with Rousey immediately taking Carano down and pinning her with an armbar. A whole bunch storm and urge for a fight that lasted a total of 17 seconds. At least those of us watching at home didn’t spend a lot of money (and wait in LA traffic) to see this joke of a match in person.
The two had an emotional embrace after the fight, which was much more fun than the fight itself. And during their post-fight interviews, Rousey called Carano her “fucking hero,” which was a nice bit of sportsmanship, and announced that this was her last fight and that she was looking forward to having “more fucking babies.” Carano, meanwhile, called it “a victory” when he got back in the ring.
Rousey vs. Carano was a precursor of sorts to UFC Freedom 250, which took place on June 14 on the South Lawn of the White House. That this is only the second The craziest thing that happened in the White House under Trump speaks volumes.
