Injury? Didn’t matter.
Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) women’s Bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey needed just 17 seconds to submit fellow women’s MMA pioneer Gina Carano in the main event of MVP MMA 1 last night (Sat., May 16, 2026) inside Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, California (watch highlights).
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But according to “Rowdy,” she wasn’t anywhere close to 100 percent heading into her long-awaited return.
During the post-fight press conference (watch here), Rousey revealed she badly injured her foot and ankle less than three weeks before the fight and spent the remainder of camp trying to hide it from the public.
“I sprained my ankle or foot pretty bad two and a half weeks ago,” Rousey explained. “I was thinking of my first injury as a kid — I broke my big toe in judo, and my mom made me run laps around the mat for the rest of the night.”
“Right when I hurt my ankle and I had two weeks left, I was like, ‘Well, looks like I’m doing this hurt,’” she continued. “I’ve never had a fight where I wasn’t injured in some way. I’ve never pulled out of a fight because I was always going to fight — it’s just part of it, and I’m the f—king best at this.”
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Rousey admitted the toughest part of fight week was trying not to visibly show the injury during public appearances.
“I was definitely trying not to look hurt during the open workouts and trying not to hold myself back,” Rousey said. “I really re-aggravated it and had to dig deep all week. I was trying so hard not to limp, and during early morning weigh-ins, it’s usually worse in the morning, so yeah, I was trying not to visibly limp in front of everyone.”
Fortunately for Rousey, she didn’t have to spend much time testing the injury inside the cage.
The former UFC champion stormed across the cage seconds after the opening bell, quickly tackled Carano to the mat, and secured the submission moments later in classic “Rowdy” fashion.
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The victory officially closed the chapter on Rousey’s MMA career, as she confirmed once again that the Netflix event would be her retirement fight. Moving forward, Rousey plans to focus on family life and potentially help MVP MMA behind the scenes as the promotion continues expanding into the sport.
For complete ‘Rousey vs. Carano’ fight card results, coverage, and highlights click HERE.
