Gina Carano‘s long-awaited return to MMA is finally set to materialize on May 16th, but the road to make it happen didn’t go through the UFC. Instead, the former star said that Ronda Rousey played a critical role in bringing the fight together when talks with the company fell apart.

Speaking with Ariel Helwani, ‘Conviction’ revealed that stepping back into the UFC had always been a personal goal. But while that opportunity never materialized, the fight itself didn’t disappear—Ronda Rousey made sure of that. Gina Carano claims that when negotiations stalled behind closed doors, ‘Rowdy’ pushed things forward.

“I really wanted to do the UFC, to make that walk, but I think that Ronda, she led the way,” she told Ariel Helwani. “She led the way a thousand percent. I was like, I just said yes.

“Then when their negotiations weren’t going anywhere, she called me personally. And then we had dinner and, like, we actually talked about it, because we call them the suits. The suits can get in the way.”

That personal connection proved to be the turning point. What couldn’t be finalized through formal means was revived through direct conversation, eventually resulting in the fight being booked as Most Valuable Promotions’ first MMA event on Netflix.

Interestingly, Carano stated that this wasn’t something she was deliberately seeking. While the showdown had been speculated for years, it wasn’t at the top of her priority list—at least not until recently.

“She’s very passionate and has been. I haven’t been,” Carano continued. “Ronda has popped up every once in a while, and I’m like, good for her, you know, like, she’s doing movies and all sorts of stuff. But I haven’t been watching her, you know what I mean?

“Even when she was fighting, I’d be like, ‘Cool, Ronda’s fighting; that’s exciting.’ But I haven’t been like… but she’s been following me and tracking me and probably knows a whole lot more about me than I know about her.”

Now, with the bout officially set, her mindset has shifted completely.

“This was the fight that she’s always wanted,” Gina Carano added. “It’s something that gets brought up for me, but it wasn’t like something I had to do, but now that I’m doing it, I’m so glad.

“I’m so glad that I’m doing it. Like, now I feel like there’s no stopping me.”

For a bout that has been years in the making, it needed one final push—not from a promoter, but from Ronda Rousey herself—to finally bring it to life. But while ‘Rowdy’ was trying her best to make this comeback fight happen, the former UFC Bantamweight champion claims behind the scenes, a key figure from the Dana White-led promotion was trying to sabotage it all.

Ronda Rousey makes major claims against Hunter Campbell ahead of the Gina Carano fight

Ronda Rousey’s final push wasn’t motivated just by passion but also by frustration. While trying to put the bout under the UFC umbrella, ‘Rowdy’ claims the process wasn’t as smooth as she expected, with internal resistance eventually forcing her to look elsewhere.

According to Rousey, things changed behind the scenes, and not always in her favor. She claimed that Hunter Campbell, a key figure in the Dana White-led promotion, was intentionally complicating the negotiations by steering her toward different opponents and casting doubt on Gina Carano’s commitment to the fight.

“I first reached out to the UFC to get it done because I have so much love for them and Dana for what he did for me,” Rousey told CBS Mornings. “But he’s not really in charge anymore. Now this guy, Hunter Campbell, is running things.

“He was really trying to like sabotage the deal and get me to fight other people and misrepresenting Gina, saying she wasn’t serious and wasn’t going to make the weight.”

For Rousey, that crossed a line, especially given how long this matchup had been in the making. And seeing Gina Carano being misrepresented throughout discussions, the direction became clear. Instead of continuing to navigate obstacles, Ronda Rousey took control of the situation, leading the bout away from the UFC and toward a platform where it could actually happen.