Welcome to the MMA time machine.
Two of the trailblazers on the women’s side of the sport—former UFC bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey and ex-Strikeforce title challenger Gina Carano—got back into the competitive hurt business after a pair of prolonged absences.
Together, they headlined Jake Paul’s first foray into another side of combat sports promotion, an 11-bout show at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles.
Rousey, 39, hadn’t fought professionally since a 48-second loss to Amanda Nunes on the UFC 207 show in December 2016, foregoing non-scripted competition in favor of appearances with the WWE, Ring of Honor and AEW pro wrestling outfits.
Carano, meanwhile, turned 44 last month and last competed in a failed bid for the Strikeforce featherweight belt in 2009, losing by TKO to Cris Cyborg. She’d spent much of her post-fight time as an actress, appearing in the Fast & Furious 6 movie and two seasons of The Mandalorian in 2019 and 2020.
B/R’s combat team was in the building in Southern California to take in all the action and delivered a real-time account of the show’s definitive winners and losers. Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought in the app comments.
