Rona Rousey needed just 17 seconds to submit Gina Carano in her trademark armbar hold, abruptly ending an extremely brief comeback match on Netflix between the former MMA stars, neither of whom has been in the cage in nearly a decade as they pursued film and TV careers.
Carano had roles in “Fast & Furious 6” and “Deadpool” before playing Cara Dune in the first two seasons of “The Mandalorian,” for which she won a wrongful termination settlement from Disney over her 2021 dismissal. Rousey took roles in “Furious 7” and “The Expendables 3” after her fighting career waned, but never really got her action-hero thing off the ground.
And so back they went to the arena, where Rousey was heavily favored – and rightly so. Though Carano, 44, was the UFC’s original legit female star in the late Aughts, she was nowhere near the level of dominant that Rousey was at her peak from 2012 to 2015.
Carano, a better pure striker, was no match for Rousey’s Olympic-level judo and submission ground game. Moments into the match, Rousey was shooting at Carano’s lower half, thumping her onto the mat and tangling her into painful position – and that was it.
Watch the match in the video clip below:
Carano popped up off the at and the competitiors hugged. Rousey insisted immediately afterward that she won’t ever fight again – and had no intention of rearranging Carano’s face.
“I was hoping to come out as unscathed as possible,” Rousey said. “I didn’t really want to hurt her. Luckily it was beautiful martial arts, that’s what I think that was. It was art.”
After a 17-year absence from the sport, Carano could only smile when it was over.
“I wanted that to last longer,” she said. “I felt so ready. I’ve never felt that good. But I haven’t been here for 17 years … and I wanted to hit her.”
