Countdown: Rousey vs. Carano

One, two. Boom! Cross-body pull.

-One, two. Body, head. -

Cross-body pull.

One, two.

Body, head.

One, two. Yeah, jab.

Nothing was going to stop me from putting this fight together.

Nice! Jab.

I got into MMA because I wanted to fight her.

Elbows down. Jab.

I've been asked for so long, "Would you ever beat Ronda Rousey?"

And the answer was always like, "Yes."

It's truly an honor to be her one to come back for.

This fight allows us to rewrite our own ending.

She just caught me at a moment where I was like, "Okay."

It's fate.

Come on.

May 16th, the first mixed martial arts event

to air live on Netflix.

They say time waits for no one.

But for a few, time simply holds its breath.

Two pioneers. Two trailblazers.

Those words get thrown around a lot in sports, but that's a fact.

For years now, the world has lived in the "What if?"

The fantasy that the two most famous mixed martial arts fighters

would come out of retirement for a historic super fight.

This is a dream fight.

A fight that most of us never even dared to dream about,

because, let's be honest, they fought in different eras.

But the wait is over.

And the "what if" is now a reality.

Gina Carano is more than just a fighter.

She's a legend.

The pioneering force that broke the stained-glass ceiling

of a male-dominated arena.

She was the face.

For the first time ever, women mixed martial arts.

And the idea that opened the door

for female fighters to come.

Am I going to worry about where I land in history?

I'm sorry, I just don't.

And then, she arrived.

Ronda Rousey, the Rowdy One, the Arm Collector.

The-- And it's over!

Rowdy Ronda Rousey continues to amaze thee!

A force of nature that tore the door off its hinges,

transforming from champion to A-list celebrity.

I've gotten so much better at things that nobody's ever seen.

This is the best that I've ever been by far.

On Saturday, May 16th in Los Angeles, California,

the two most significant MMA fighters to ever enter the cage

will finally face each other in a landmark event.

"Historic" doesn't even begin to scratch the surface.

Bridging the gap between two eras and two icons

whose heights never aligned.

I would not have known that women's MMA existed

if it wasn't for her.

At the same time, she wants to rip my arm off and shove it up my ass.

Ronda Rousey.

Gina Carano.

One, the architect of women's MMA.

I'm definitely coming to win, make no mistake about that.

The other, a trailblazer who shook its foundation.

I want to prove to her that she created something bigger than herself.

They say that the past is a ghost you shouldn't chase.

But some stories deserve a final chapter.

Closure.

On Saturday, May 16th,

five rounds in the cage will quiet the lingering question, "What if?"

This is Countdown: Rousey vs. Carano.

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages,

the most iconic women's MMA fighter in the history of women's fighting in MMA,

Gina Carano!

-Come on! -Yeah!

Are you kidding me?

The queen is back! The queen is back!

-Netflix! -Come on!

I get nervous. That's why I don't do a lot of interviews.

But that energy just now, like… Oh!

The last time you fought was 2009?

Twenty-- I think I was 27 years old, maybe.

So, that was a long time ago.

What does that look like, coming back to this sport after 17 years away?

I grew up getting into a lot of trouble.

I was a bit crazy, a little bit out of my mind in my twenties.

So I was fighting out of a place of, um, survival.

Growing up, I had kind of, like, a colder energy.

Maybe that looked like a chip on my shoulder.

But I was definitely not a troublemaker. I just would end up in trouble.

Raised amidst the neon allure and tempting background of Las Vegas,

Gina Carano instinctively sought the grit

of an untamed path.

A teenage rebellion

against what would be considered an affluent upbringing.

Choosing the streets,

rather than stepping into a designed life of privilege.

I didn't ever think about having a future.

You're supposed to go to law school, you're supposed to go be a doctor,

definitely going to college.

I didn't like money being held over my head.

So, that's when I met Kevin.

The second I laid my eyes on her, I was…

in love forever.

We were young,

and were living a life that we lost a lot of friends

to drugs, alcohol, murder.

It was not a good place to be.

How badly can we destroy our lives?

And that's the life we lived in Vegas.

And then Kevin decided that he was going to stop drinking

and start training Muay Thai.

At that time, there was no Muay Thai in America.

It was just non-existent.

You couldn't even tell people. They didn't know what it was.

I walked into the gym he was training at,

and this little Thai man came up to me, Master Chan, my first-ever coach,

and he said, "Oh, baby, you're fat. You need to lose weight."

And I was like, "Uh-huh. Yeah, okay. All right, let's start training."

Once you start training and learning, it is so addicting.

You fall in love with it.

I lost 30 pounds, and I had my first fight six months later.

Gina Carano quickly mastered the Muay Thai striking style,

utilizing punches, kicks, elbows, and knees.

One, two, three, low, rip it in there, go.

In 2006, the growing popularity of mixed martial arts was hard to ignore,

and her interest soon turned.

Carano's journey from a decorated Muay Thai champion

to a groundbreaking MMA debutante was swift.

Gina Carano was the first mainstream star

for women's mixed martial arts,

one of the most dangerous female fighters in early women's MMA.

I was the first female-sanctioned fight that happened in Las Vegas, Nevada.

She was then a part of the first women's MMA fight

on broadcast television.

Oh, to the head, to the body!

There's a right hand that drops Kedzie!

The face of women's MMA, Gina Carano!

She's got everything you'd want in a superstar fighter.

Everyone was like, "Holy crap, who is that?"

Now, don't be nervous. I've seen what you can do.

I'd rather get punched in the face right now. This is… Oh!

Yeah!

- -Very nice.

Carano's blend of good looks and raw power quickly ordained her

as the face of women's MMA.

Her 7-0 undefeated record only added to her celebrity

as the women's side of MMA began to catch on.

On August 15th 2009,

Carano took on 7-1 Chris "Cyborg" Justino,

the first time two women headlined an MMA event.

A premature collision between popularity and unmatched power.

These two ladies wasting no time going at it.

It was the fight that everyone wanted to see in women's MMA.

In the end, it did not go well for Gina Carano.

Cyborg, pouring it on.

- -Cyborg! It's over!

As the first woman to carry the mainstream torch,

her sole professional loss felt less like a defeat

and more like the end of an era.

She has never fought since.

There was a feeling like, "Man, as quickly as you arrived,

you disappeared as well."

Don't make it crazy, just nice and relaxed.

Let's get the demons out.

Over the years, the temptation to return remained.

Contracts were offered, but Carano chose

to leave her reputation as a pioneer intact.

Now, nearly two decades later,

with the help of her coach John Wood,

Gina Carano will once again enter the cage

against an equally dangerous opponent.

The thing with Gina is being out so long,

there isn't the wear and tear on the body.

Here we go.

She still has the speed, she still has the power.

She hits like a fricking ton of bricks. I mean, she still kicks like a mule.

I feel like there's something in every human

when you see this perfect opportunity and synergy,

and that's what we have in front of us.

I believe they both always wanted to fight each other,

and to prove who was better.

- Looking good. -Yeah.

This is probably, I'd say, one of the hardest things I've ever done.

It's one thing to…

It's crazy.

…walk into a gym like, "I wanna fight."

It's another thing to take the time off, know what it is.

That fighter kicks in and you go, "Oh, this is what we're doing."

Yeah.

I don't really like to look back and say I'd like to change things.

I like to think, you know, I learned.

Had that fight gone better with Cyborg, I might be a completely different person.

I wouldn't be sitting here excited to fight Ronda Rousey.

We're going to go clean the duck pond