Ronda Rousey has used her return to MMA to take direct purpose on the UFC, hyping Netflix’s first reside MMA card whereas dismissing the promotion’s upcoming White Home present as a weak providing by comparability.
On X, the previous UFC girls’s bantamweight champion reacted to the announcement that Francis Ngannou vs Philipe Lins had been added to the Could 16 Ronda Rousey vs Gina Carano occasion on Netflix, writing that Ngannou vs Lins “joins #RouseyVsCarano on @Netflix Could sixteenth” and calling it a “bamf laden double headliner.” She framed the lineup as the results of “put[ting] fighters and followers forward of shareholders,” tagging Jake Paul’s Most Worthwhile Promotions (MVP) whereas closing with a blunt postscript: “@ufc’s White Home card sucks.” The message rapidly circulated throughout MMA media as a pointed shot at her former employer and its June showcase in Washington, D.C.
Ronda Rousey Hypes Netflix Doubleheader, Blasts UFC’s White Home Card
The Netflix occasion itself has taken shape as one of many yr’s standout points of interest. Rousey, 39, returns from a protracted hiatus to face fellow pioneer Gina Carano, 43, in a featherweight bout that headlines MVP’s inaugural MMA present and the primary combined martial arts card to stream reside on Netflix. The occasion will probably be held on the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles on Saturday, Could 16, and will probably be obtainable globally at no further cost to subscribers, marking Netflix’s formal transfer into reside MMA after earlier fight sports activities tasks. Rousey has already shared coaching footage and updates across the matchup, serving to construct curiosity in a combat that has been mentioned in fantasy matchups for greater than a decade.
Including to the cardboard’s attraction is Ngannou’s MMA return. MVP and Netflix confirmed that the previous UFC heavyweight champion will face Brazil’s Philipe Lins in a 5‑spherical heavyweight bout underneath unified guidelines, becoming a member of Rousey vs Carano as a key attraction on the identical invoice. Ngannou, 18–3 in MMA with 13 knockouts, comes again to the cage after a run in boxing and a 2024 PFL championship victory, whereas Lins, 18–5, is a former PFL match winner who left the UFC following a 4‑combat win streak with no new deal.
Netflix executives have pitched the lineup as a milestone second, with the platform’s VP of Sports activities describing Rousey, Carano and Ngannou as “generational icons” headlining the service’s first MMA broadcast.
Rousey’s jab on the UFC is tied on to that distinction in presentation. The promotion’s Freedom 250 occasion, scheduled for June 14 on the White Home to coincide with President Donald Trump’s eightieth birthday, is ready to characteristic Ilia Topuria vs Justin Gaethje for the light-weight title and Alex Pereira vs Ciryl Gane for an interim heavyweight belt. Whereas the lineup carries two championship fights on paper, some followers and fighters have criticized the cardboard after an prolonged buildup that fueled hopes of appearances by larger names like Conor McGregor and Jon Jones, neither of whom made the ultimate announcement.
Rousey has mentioned she beforehand tried to return to MMA with the UFC however couldn’t attain phrases with Dana White, making her resolution to push MVP’s Netflix present an extension of a strained relationship that now performs out in public.
