Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano fought for about 17 seconds longer than expected in a short bout in a Southern California hexagon. The fight ended when Rousey set up an armbar, a signature submission from her earlier peak. Carano tapped quickly. Their post-fight embrace lasted longer than the match itself. The bout is framed as part of a broader decline in combat sports into an unsafe, oldies-friendly pastime. Both fighters had long gaps without fights and without wins beforehand. Rousey previously achieved major milestones in judo and MMA, including early rapid knockouts and a Ring magazine cover, but later suffered knockout losses and stepped away. Carano’s earlier MMA success came through smaller promotions, but her fighting did not match her marketing.
"Their brief Saturday encounter in a Southern California hexagon, a comeback for both after ridiculously long layoffs yet still promoted by Jake Paul's MVP outfit as the biggest women's MMA fight in history, ended as soon as Rousey set Carano up for an arm bar, the ex-judoka's trademark finishing move from back when she was relevant. Carano, who gave up the cage for acting and right-wing mouthpiecing, tapped quicker than Fred Astaire."
"Their post-match embrace lasted much longer and exuded more vigor than the actual match. And combat sports' sad, unsafe, and disgraceful spiral into an oldies-friendly pastime continues. Both fighters surely had their heyday, though long passed. This was fiasco-by-numbers stuff, with Rousey and Carano having gone a combined 27 years without a fight and 29 years without a win leading up to this weekend's nonsense."
"Rousey was the first USA woman to win a non-exhibition Olympic medal in judo after taking a bronze in the 2008 Beijing games. She was also the first female UFC star; she came into Dana White's promotion in 2013 with a big reputation, and for a time exceeded it. She won her first six fights by knockout, including five stoppages in 66 seconds or less. She was thrilling."
"By the publishing date, the grapple-centric submissions specialist had already been exposed as somebody who couldn't block or take a punch while losing her title to Holly Holm via a spectacular knockout in November 2015. Rousey got KO'd again in the first round a year later by Amanda Nunes before stepping away from the sport. Carano, now 44 years old, paved the way for Rousey's UFC embrace through wins with lesser MMA outfits, EliteXC and Strikeforce, though her fighting never quite lived up to her marketing."
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