Ronda Rousey releases post-fight statement, congratulates Gina Carano for losing 100 pounds
LOS ANGELES, CA - MAY 16: Ronda Rousey (left) defeated Gina Carano (right) by submission via a first-round armbar at the 17-second mark during their Featherweight Bout (145lbs) of the Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) on Saturday night's main card event at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood of Los Angeles, California, United States on May 16, 2026. (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images) | Anadolu via Getty Images Ronda Rousey stepped back into the cage, submitted Gina Carano with an armbar in 17 seconds, and now she’s stepping back out into retirement. Aside from the money and the ratings, what exactly was the point of Rousey spending her final MMA fight competing against Carano?
According to a new statement from Ronda released on Tuesday afternoon, it was to help Carano heal her body, which in turn helped Rousey heal her own soul. “Me and Gina literally fought to fight each other,” Rousey wrote. “I kept hearing people say ‘She’s not serious,’ ‘She can’t lose the weight,’ but I didn’t just want to come back to fight, I HAD to come back to fight HER.
The story we could tell together was one I desperately needed to believe: That you’re never too low to rise again, that your body is never too far gone to reclaim, and that it’s never too late to be better than you’ve ever been. ” Gina Carano lost over 100 pounds to fight Ronda Rousey 😳 pic. twitter.
com/AbiFpLRjNA — ESPN MMA (@espnmma) May 16, 2026 “Her bravery astounded me,” Rousey continued. “At her lowest point she set her highest goal — to lose 100lbs and take on the baddest bitch on the planet! What I never could have expected was seeing how that woman transformed over the following year would give me just as much joy as my own transformation.
Every time I saw her she was stronger, more confident, more beautiful than ever — not because she was losing weight but because that light she had lost was growing brighter and brighter. ” “At the same time I was peeling back the layers of my own walls I’d put up and rediscovering a world that was so ingrained in the fabric of my soul but was too proud to admit I needed. I love MMA, I love judo, pro wrestling, fight choreography, acting and writing — but I am before anything else a martial artist.