Camille Naredo

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Ronda Rousey

Reuters Wires

Ronda Rousey used the launch of her long-awaited comeback fight to reveal she was the driving force in the decision to ditch the UFC on Tuesday (March 10).Rousey was announcing her May 16 return to MMA against fellow pioneer Gina Carano on Netflix.Speaking at a press conference outside the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles where the fight will be held, she told reporters that when they were negotiating with UFC she said to Carano &quot;we can do this on our own; we don&#x27;t need them (UFC), we don&#x27;t need anyone.&quot;The Olympic bronze medallist — who made history as the first American woman to win an Olympic medal in judo at the 2008 Beijing Games — emphasized her disillusionment with the UFC&#x27;s current state and criticised the new management.&quot;Most of my criticisms of the UFC now are because Dana (White) isn&#x27;t the owner, and he isn&#x27;t calling the shots,&quot; she said.&quot;I think it was a big mistake of theirs to not let him just run things the way that he always has.&quot;Her comments follow a week of public disputes, notably Jon Jones&#x27;s request to leave the UFC after being excluded from its upcoming White House event scheduled for June 14, amid contract disagreements.MVP co-founder Jake Paul, who was in attendance and promoting the fight, was equally blunt, declaring the UFC to be in terminal decline.The Rousey-Carano matchup will headline Netflix&#x27;s first-ever live MMA broadcast, making it the first women&#x27;s fight to headline a major global streaming platform.Carano, who has not fought since a 2009 loss to Cris Cyborg, described the return as transformative.&quot;It&#x27;s healing, it&#x27;s exciting. It&#x27;s everything I could have hoped for. I didn&#x27;t know I needed this so bad.&quot;Rousey said &quot;I feel more calm than I&#x27;ve ever felt for a fight... today, I feel like I&#x27;m exactly where I should be.&quot;The event marks MVP&#x27;s debut in MMA after its record-breaking partnership with Netflix, which began with the 2024 Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson fight.<div>(Production: Simon Ormiston)</div>

Ronda Rousey used the launch of her long-awaited comeback fight to reveal she was the driving force in the decision to ditch the UFC on Tuesday (March 10).

Ronda Rousey used the launch of her long-awaited comeback fight to reveal she was the driving force in the decision to ditch the UFC on Tuesday (March 10).

'We didn't need UFC,' says Rousey as she promotes 'most viewed MMA fight of all-time'

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'We didn't need UFC,' says Rousey as she promotes 'most viewed MMA fight of all-time'

Reuters

Published March 11, 2026 05:56 PM PHT

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abssports

mixed martial arts

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Ronda Rousey

Gina Carano

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Netflix

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