Ronda Rousey, Gina Carano Fight: Mixed Martial Artist Details Brutal Mental Toll of Disney Firing, Shocking 100lb Weight Loss Ahead Netflix Bout

Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano will headline Netflix's first live mixed martial arts event at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles on Saturday in a comeback fight Carano says has 'changed my life but also saved my life' following her firing by Disney and a 100-pound weight loss.

The 44-year-old former MMA pioneer turned actress has spent much of the past decade away from the cage, building a second career in Hollywood. Her most high-profile role came as Cara Dune in Disney's Star Wars spinoff The Mandalorian, where she appeared to have secured a long-term franchise future. That unravelled in 2021 when Lucasfilm cut ties with her following social media posts in which she compared being a Republican in the US to being Jewish during the Holocaust.

Carano later sued Disney and Lucasfilm for wrongful termination and sexual discrimination. Lucasfilm said her comments had 'denigrated people based on their cultural and religious identities.' The legal row ended in 2025 with a settlement, but Carano has since described the years that followed as a period of deep personal crisis, saying she was 'in a very hurting place' in which she 'lost herself.'

She told BBC Sport she had been pushed to the edge by the fallout. 'I remember being under so much physical stress that my anxiety hurt so bad that my skin hurt,' she said. 'I was having panic attacks and it was like the whole world was caving in. That was rough; it was not the best. I worked two decades to get the career I had and everything was taken from me overnight.'

The MMA Fight

It was during that low point that former UFC champion Ronda Rousey stepped in with an idea that sounded at first like fantasy. Rousey, 39, approached the UFC in 2024 with a proposal to fight Carano, arguing that the bout could help both women. Talks stalled. Unusually for a sport in which negotiations often happen at arm's length, Rousey then contacted Carano directly, and the match-up was eventually put together by Jake Paul's Most Valuable Promotions rather than a traditional MMA powerhouse.

By then, Carano had not fought since 2009. She had left the sport after a landmark bout against Cris Cyborg for the inaugural Strikeforce featherweight title, the first time two women had headlined a major MMA event. That defeat and the absence that followed did not erase her status within the sport, though. Many fighters credit Carano with opening the door that Rousey later kicked off its hinges during her dominant UFC run.

Rousey has never hidden that debt. She has said Carano 'inspired her when she was sitting on the couch one day,' watching another woman occupy a main event slot that, until then, many promoters insisted female fighters could not carry. Fight week in Los Angeles has underlined that respect. After Friday's official weigh-in for their featherweight contest, Rousey waited patiently for Carano to leave the scales and greeted her with a hug.

'I've never been able to give back to her,' Rousey said. 'If she gets the greatest comeback story of all time I'd be happy to be part of it.'

What Fuelled the 100lb Weight Loss?

For Carano, the prospect of fighting Rousey again on a global stage became more than a professional opportunity. She frames it as a lifeline. Since agreeing to the bout, she says she has lost 100lb since September 2024, arriving on the scale at 141.4lb on Friday and looking, in her words, 'alive' again.

'This fight focused me and gave me purpose to aim for something, not just physically, but it consumed me,' she said. 'It was incredible to be able to aim all my energy towards something. My health is so much better and I feel like myself, I feel comfortable in my skin, I feel alive and I'm grateful every day.'

It is the kind of language usually reserved for title fights and career-making streaks, not comebacks in a sport that has already moved on once. Yet there is a sense, listening to Carano, that the belt or the rankings matter less than simply proving she can still do this.

Some critics have dismissed the fight as a nostalgia play. With Rousey now 39 and Carano 44, the question of timing hangs over the match-up that was first floated around 2014, when Rousey was one of the biggest names in global sport and Carano was already well into her acting career. Even some loyal MMA fans wonder whether the competitive edge will match the billing.

The two women appear unbothered. Rousey talks about 'making a dream come true,' not just for herself but for her opponent. Carano, asked about doubts over her age and lay-off, is blunt. 'You see so many fighters say they are going to come back but people underestimate the strength and commitment it takes to come back,' she said. 'And not just come back but to face someone incredibly legendary like Ronda. We're making a dream come true for both of us.'

Beyond the personal storylines, Netflix will be watching closely. Saturday's card is the streamer's first live MMA broadcast, a test of whether its heavyweight push into sport can stretch from wrestling and golf into the fragmented world of cage fighting. Rousey has already said the bout will set a new purse record for female fighters, although specific figures have not been disclosed.

If the numbers match the noise, the Ronda Rousey vs Gina Carano fight may end up being remembered less for the result than for what it unlocked: a wounded ex-Disney star clawing her way back to herself, and an MMA trailblazer finally getting the chance to repay the woman who went first.