North Dakota’s own Ronda Rousey made a successful, albeit quick return to MMA on Saturday. Rousey faced off against women’s MMA fighter pioneer turned actress Gina Carano in the main event of Jake Paul’s MVP MMA promotion on Netflix.
The fight took place at the Inuit Dome in Inglewood California.
Rousey, a former UFC champion and Olympic bronze medalist, won the fight in 17 seconds in her return win. The fight began with a quick double takedown from Rousey. She easily mounted Carano and transitioned to her signature armbar and Carano tapped out.
Rousey’s win improves her record to 13-2. Carano’s record now is 7-2.
This was Carano’s first fight in almost 17 years, while Rousey’s first in almost 10 years.
After the fight, Rousey credited Carano for getting her to take this fight after years of retirement.
“Gina is the only person who could have brought me back into MMA — she’s my hero. She changed my world, and we changed the world,” she told the audience after the fight.
When asked if she wanted to get more cage time during the fight, she said,
“I was hoping to come out as unscathed as possible. I didn’t really want to hurt her. Luckily it was beautiful martial arts… it was art.”
The big question was whether she wanted to continue fighting. She said she wasn’t interested in taking another fight.
“There’s no way I could have ended it better than this. I want to have some more babies.”
The fight was estimated to have had 20 to 27 million viewers globally on Netflix. The reported attendance was 15,795 attendees.
Rousey has notable roots in Devils Lake. She would spend summers in Devils Lake, going back and forth from Minot. Her father was director of research and development at Sioux Manufacturing. She also attended St. Joseph’s Elementary School.
We also previously wrote about Rousey’s debut as an author with her graphic novel published on October 21 last year.
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