Combat sports comebacks usually come backed by a big promotion. A dramatic teaser. A nostalgic montage announcing the homecoming. However, Ronda Rousey‘s return feels different. Not because she is fighting again, but because of where she isn’t.

For years, any discussion about Rousey coming back into a cage inevitably roped in the UFC. That is the house she built. So, when it was announced that her long-awaited fight against Gina Carano would headline an MMA event promoted by Jake Paul on Netflix, the first question wasn’t about weight class or ring rust. It was much simpler: Why not the UFC?

Ronda Rousey says she approached Dana White first

“I always said that Gina is the one person I’d come back to fight for,” Ronda Rousey explained to ESPN. “The more that I thought about it, I was like, you know what, I need this. I really need this fight.

“I reached out to Dana White and asked him if he would be interested in it, and it didn’t exactly work out with the UFC, but it led us to here today.”

That line speaks more than it appears to. Gina Carano and ‘Rowdy’ have been circling each other since 2014, when the UFC considered making the bout at the height of Rousey’s dominance. However, the plan never came to fruition.

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Over a decade later, the window has reopened—but not under the same banner. Instead, Ronda Rousey’s comeback will headline Most Valuable Promotions’ first MMA event, which will be streamed live on Netflix. In fact, Nakisa Bidarian, who was the UFC’s CFO throughout Rousey’s title reign, is now promoting her return with Jake Paul.

This symmetry is difficult to overlook. Especially after we also consider the fact that back in October, the UFC CEO even addressed Rousey’s comeback rumors as she got back in the gym and talked about finding her passion for MMA again after retiring in 2016 after suffering consecutive knockout losses.

“I think she’s just training again,” White said. “She just had three babies, and she’s in a whole other place in her life. But I will say this, she just had another baby, and she’s in great shape right now. She’s freaking ripped like she used to be. I don’t know.”

Little did the head honcho know that ‘Rowdy’ would be making a comeback the very next year, just without him backing the fight. The UFC had the opportunity to stage the legendary fight years ago. It had another chance recently. But this time, someone else said yes. And perhaps it is the real shift. Ronda Rousey is not returning to relive her past. She’s rewriting how it ends.

The Octagon was once the only stage big enough for her. The biggest women’s superfight in MMA history is now taking place outside of it, because the opportunity didn’t land where many expected it to. And to make things worse, this isn’t the first time that the UFC CEO fumbled the opportunity to book this fight.

Gina Carano blames Dana White for the first Rousey fight plans collapsing

If this feels like history repeating itself, it is. Long before Netflix, long before Jake Paul, there was already a version of Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano floating around in 2014. And according to ‘Conviction,’ it unraveled not out of fear or money, but because of how it was handled by the UFC CEO.

During her 2019 interview with Ariel Helwani, Carano stated that Dana White offered her $1 million to face ‘Rowdy’ at the height of her career. She was thrilled. “Stoked,” as she later put it. But she also understood what a return meant. She had not fought since 2009. She needed time to form a team, return to full training, and lose weight properly.

“You’ve got to just be able to sit on this for about six months, Dana,” she revealed. “You can’t say anything and let me get situated… because that sounds great, and I’d love to do it.”

Instead, the fight was mentioned publicly almost immediately by the head honcho himself. From Carano’s perspective, that complicated everything. But what truly ended it for good was a text message from White that used explicit language about her holding the fight up.

She replied, asking if it had been sent to the wrong person. It had not. Dana White later apologized in person, she claimed, but the tone had already shifted by then.

“I don’t think that that was the kind of environment I wanted to come back into.”

Communication ended there. And now, more than a decade later, the fight is finally happening, although without the UFC brand. For some, that detail feels accidental. Others see it as inevitable. The fight didn’t collapse because the demand wasn’t there. It failed because timing, trust, and ego didn’t align.

This time, the alignment came from somewhere else.