Ronda Rousey rolled back the years on Saturday, submitting Gina Carano in 17 seconds with a signature armbar.
Rousey, an Olympic-medalist Judoka who went on to become a UFC champion, was fighting for the first time in 10 years as she took on Carano, a fellow trailblazer of women’s mixed martial arts.
In fact, Carano was competing for the first time in 17 years, and unfortunately for the 44-year-old, it was a performance to forget in Inglewood, California – and live on Netflix.
Headlining an event at the Intuit Dome, organised by YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul, Rousey and Carano squared off in a featherweight bout, which saw “Rowdy” score a takedown immediately.
Carano tried to defend with a guillotine choke, but Rousey, 39, popped her head out of the submission attempt and swiftly moved from mount into an armbar.
Carano tapped at once, as Rousey won in a manner reminiscent of many performances from her prime.
Rousey had last competed in 2016, suffering a first-minute knockout by Amanda Nunes in a UFC title fight. One year earlier, she was knocked out by Holly Holm. Meanwhile, Carano had not fought since suffering the first and – previously – sole defeat of her career, a KO by Cris Cyborg.
Towards the end of her MMA career, Rousey had ventured into professional wrestling and acting, with the latter domain familiar to Carano as well.
Following their fight on Saturday, Rousey and her fellow American tearfully embraced, before Rousey said: “Gina is the person who brought me into MMA, she’s the only person who could’ve brought me back. She’s my f***ing hero, man.
“I was hoping to come out as unscathed as possible, because I didn’t really wanna hurt her. Luckily it was just beautiful martial arts, I think that’s what that was. It’s an art.”
Rousey seemingly closed the door on any future fights, though, saying: “My husband and kids are watching, I didn’t want to put them through any more.”
Carano then said: “I wanted that to last longer. I felt like I was so ready, I felt so good, I’ve never felt that good. But I haven’t been here for 17 years, so I wanted to hit her.
“I didn’t get to do anything in this fight. I should’ve got matched up with a striker, I wanted to get some of that out […] I’ll probably feel that [disappointment] later. Right now, getting in the cage was a victory, getting here after 17 years was a victory.
“I feel great, I just feel like I wanted to fight and I didn’t get that, but I have so much love and respect for her. This is a victory in my life. I woke up at 3am every morning thinking about her, I took 100lb off my body, which is gonna give me a longer life. There’s so many good things to think about here. It’s just the fight didn’t go my way.”
“I don’t know [if I’ll fight again]. I think 17 years was a lot, I think being 44 is a lot. I don’t know if I can put my family back through that, [but] you just never know with me!”
In the preceding bout, UFC legend Nate Diaz was stopped by Mike Perry after two rounds of frantic action. Diaz, 41, is known to sustain cuts easily, and that was the case on Saturday, with the Californian’s face completely covered in blood before his cutman called off the bout.
Before that, former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou scored a trademark knockout, stopping Philipe Lins in round one. A huge left hook floored Lins late in the round, as Ngannou moved to 2-0 in his post-UFC MMA career – while he has gone 0-2 in boxing, having faced Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.
