The former UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey is climbing back into the MMA cage.
Rousey will be in a mixed martial arts event for the first time in nearly a decade, thanks to Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions group, ESPN reported.
She will face off against fighter-turned actor, Gina Carano.
The bout will be held on May 16 at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, and will stream live on Netflix.
The match will be professionally sanctioned under the Unified Rules of MMA, according to ESPN.
“Been waiting so long to announce this: Me and Gina Carano are gonna throw down in the biggest super fight in women’s combat sport history!” Rousey told ESPN in a statement.
Rousey was the first American woman to win a medal in Olympic judo in 2008. She signed with Strikeforce and eventually UFC in 2013. She was the first UFC women’s bantamweight champion and held the title for a record six consecutive times.
Rousey’s last MMA fight was on Dec. 30, 2016, Fox News reported.
She retired from MMA and joined the WWE from 2018 to 2022, and was a world champion there.
Rousey, a New York Times bestseller and actor, was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in 2018.
Carano led MMA fights from 2006 to 2009 and was the first Strikeforce women’s title holder for the 145-pound class in 2009, ESPN said.
She retired after losing by TKO in her last MMA fight, but then became an actor, appearing in “Deadpool,” “The Mandalorian,” and other films and shows.
Carano has been gone from the ring for 17 years but has teased a comeback.
“Ronda came to me and said there is only one person she would make a comeback for and it has been her dream to make this fight happen between us,” she said, according to ESPN. “She thanked me for opening up doors for her in her career and was respectful in asking for this fight to happen. This is an honor. I believe I will walk out of this fight with the win, and I anticipate it will not come easy, which I welcome. This is as much for Ronda and me as it is for the fans and mixed martial arts community. What a time to be alive.”
Additional fights will be added to the bill.
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