Gina Carano vs Ronda Rosey Fight Review: Complete Joke

Saturday night’s highly anticipated Gina Carano vs. Ronda Rousey fight on Netflix ended up being a complete disaster and a total embarrassment. Sorry, Jake Paul, but this wasn’t the UFC. Dana White must have been dying laughing after this one.

I didn’t catch any of the earlier fights because I was watching my Buffalo Sabres destroy the Montreal Canadiens. I did flip back and forth between periods since Carano-Rousey was billed for a 9 p.m. EST start, but Netflix had three earlier fights, tons of commercials — I thought I paid extra to remove those? — and somehow stretched the actual start time to midnight.

Hey, I’m fine with it. I got to watch the Sabres win 8-3.

Back to the fight. I had several group text chats going at the time, and as we were celebrating the Sabres win, I told everyone to turn on Carano-Rousey.

The jokes started flying — most of them not fit to print here — but I was actually looking forward to the fight. I’ve covered Gina Carano for years, from her Disney and Star Wars fallout to her recent big weight loss, and it’s been the same with Ronda Rousey, who has also been linked to various Hollywood projects over the years.

Carano had the comeback-kid angle going for her, while Rousey is just a tough SOB. But after watching the fight, my first thought is simple: this never should have happened.

Gina Carano is not remotely in the same category as Ronda Rousey. They both knew it. Their teams knew it. Jake Paul knew it. Everyone watching knew it. They fought anyway.

Here we go…

If I were Gina Carano, my entire camp would have been about stopping the takedown. I’m drilling takedown defense 1,000 times a day, because once Rousey gets on top of me, I’m toast.

Right away, Carano looked off balance. She came in with some kind of loose strike, and of course, Rousey immediately closed the distance and shot for the takedown.

I’m not going to pretend I’m Mr. Expert, but I do have around 10 years of martial arts experience. I trained in Danzan Ryu Jujitsu, which has Japanese and Hawaiian roots, and I hold a first-degree brown belt.

Our sensei tailored his style more toward no-rules, anything-goes street fighting. It’s completely different from Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, which is sport-fighting, just like Judo. We incorporated elements of all of that — and more — into our fighting; however, again, no points and no rules.

With that said, Carano looks completely off balance here. She doesn’t even attempt to sprawl or use any real takedown defense once Rousey closes the distance.

Carano’s big mistake here is that she never even tries to recover guard.

Once Rousey gets on top, Carano should be using her legs, locking up full guard, controlling Rousey’s posture, and buying herself time. Instead, she looks like she has no idea what to do from the bottom.

On the takedown, Carano could have at least tried to catch Rousey in a guillotine or use the threat of one to slow the takedown and create space for an escape (I know it was only 15 seconds).

Instead, Rousey ends up right on top in mount, and from there, Carano has absolutely zero chance.

Now check this out: Carano is already smiling. She knows she’s done for. Wow.

This is probably the one moment where Carano might have had a chance to escape. Rousey gives her a little bit of space from mount, and that’s where Carano needed to explode — bridge hard, buck her hips, or try to create enough room to recover half guard or full guard, anything.

Obviously, we all know Carano’s strong suit isn’t the ground game, which is exactly why that should have been the main focus of her training camp. If you’re fighting Ronda Rousey, you know where the fight is going. You have to train like your entire life depends on staying off your back or surviving once you get there.

Of course, Rousey is an elite-level champion, so it probably wouldn’t have mattered. Again, this fight never should have happened. At the very least, it should have been a boxing match (although then both fighters would have had to worry about getting punched in the face, hehe).

Now, Rousey starts setting up the armbar. If that’s me, the first thing I’m doing is fighting to protect the arm being attacked. I’m trying to grab my own hand, lock my hands together, or turn into her before she can fully extend the arm.

Rousey is also landing ground-and-pound, which forces Carano to turn onto her left side. I get why it happened. I’ve been there. I’ve been caught and tapped out.

But I also wasn’t on Netflix getting paid millions to fight Ronda Rousey (sign me up!).

Now watch what happens here: Rousey starts attacking the armbar, and her weight pulls Carano onto her back.

At that point, Carano needs to protect the arm and attempt to turn toward her to relieve the pressure.

Instead! Carano rolls back onto her left side, which extends the trapped arm and gives Rousey exactly what she needs!

That only tightens the armbar and speeds up the finish! When in doubt, stretch it out! Wow!

Tap! It’s over!

The two smile and laugh and hug! Eh, not a good look, guys!

I’m curious to see what others think of the fight, particularly those with any martial arts or MMA experience. Hit me up in the comments below.

Up next for Ronda Rousey, apparently, is that she is having lots of babies! She said so before the fight.

Gina Carano is actually rumored for a big Star Wars return. She is also set to star in Logan Reign, a Las Vegas crime series based in her hometown that has been described as Batman-esque! Cool!

Watch the fight: