Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano results: 'Rowdy' secures quick submission win in return to MMA

Rousey needed a mere 17 seconds to secure her signature arm bar on Carano in the main event

Ronda Rousey made a successful return to mixed martial arts after a decade away from the sport, quickly submitting Gina Carano in the main event of the first MVP MMA card on Saturday.

Rousey followed the method that defined her entire career as a superstar in Strikeforce and UFC, finding an arm and taking it home in a heartbeat.

Rousey came out, secured a takedown and quickly ended up in mount. Rousey then threw a few punches before locking in an armbar and forcing Carano to tap out at the 17-second mark of Round 1.

Carano was fighting for the first time since her TKO loss to Cris Cyborg in 2009, while Rousey was fighting for the first time in a decade after back-to-back knockout losses to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes. As expected, the more complete fighter was able to pick up the win.

The submission marked Rousey's ninth career victory in less than one minute.

"Gina is the person who brought me into MMA and the only person who could have brought me back into MMA," Rousey said after the fight. "... You changed my world and we changed the world. I mean, I was hoping to come out as unscathed as possible because I didn't really want to hurt her. Luckily, it was just beautiful martial arts, that's what I think that efficiency is."

Rousey shut down the idea of coming back for another fight after her victory.

"There's no way I could have ended it better than this," Rousey said. "I want to have some more babies, and I've got to get cooking."

Carano seemed less interested in calling it a career, saying she wished she'd been matched against a striker, rather than a former Olympic medalist in judo.

"I wanted that to last longer," Carano said. "I felt like I was so ready, I felt so good ... I wanted to hit her. Getting in the cage was a victory."

CBS Sports was with you throughout the night with live updates, results and round-by-round scoring of MVP MMA 1 from Los Angeles below.

Rousey vs. Carano fight card, results

• Ronda Rousey def. Gina Carano via first-round submission (armbar)
• Mike Perry def. Nate Diaz via second-round TKO (corner stoppage)
• Francis Ngannou def. Philipe Lins via first-round knockout (punch)
• Salahdine Parnasse def. Kenneth Cross via first-round TKO (punches)
• Robelis Despaigne def. Junior dos Santos via first-round knockout (punches)

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[May 17, 2026 at 12:06 am ET · Brent Brookhouse]

Rousey dove forward into an immediate takedown and ended up in mount. Rousey took the armbar and the tap came just over 15 seconds into the fight as Carano quickly tapped out. That's the only reasonable way the fight could go, and that's exactly how it went.

[May 16, 2026 at 11:47 pm ET · Brent Brookhouse]

Carano has not fought since 2009, Rousey has not fought since 2016. That's a lot of time off for both women, which makes for a very strange fight. Rousey should win, she's by far the more complete fighter, but she hasn't seemed to have her killer edge in the build to this fight. That said, it's hard to see where Carano is actually a better fighter.

We'll see what happens soon.

[May 16, 2026 at 11:29 pm ET · Brent Brookhouse]

The corner stopped the fight as Diaz was on the stool after Round 2. Diaz was bleeding badly from several cuts and seemed exhausted on the stool. A resounding performance from Perry, and one that likely marks the end of Diaz's time as a relevant part of the mixed martial arts world. We will likely never see the rubber match between Diaz and Conor McGregor now, a fact the MMA world is worse for.

[May 16, 2026 at 11:27 pm ET · Brent Brookhouse]

Diaz was back to the jab early as Perry tried to work his way back inside. Perry dipped to the body a few times before Diaz mixed in a few hooks with the jab. Perry landed a few uppercuts before some big right hands. Perry landed a series of big elbows and right hands, though Diaz continued to absorb the shots and throw back. Perry landed some more big shots and a big knee, and Diaz fell to his back. Perry followed Diaz to the floor and landed heavy ground and pound before telling Diaz to stand back up. Diaz was bleeding badly but continued to try and fire back even as Perry came forward. Perry dug to the body twice and Diaz seemed on his way out. Perry started to walk forward with his hands down and dropped Diaz with a knee as the round ended.