Ronda Rousey says this MMA comeback feels completely different from anything she has experienced before — and she is embracing it from a place of joy rather than pressure as her highly anticipated Netflix fight against Gina Carano gets underway. Speaking to Netflix Tudum shortly before the bout, Rousey reflected on how years of expectations and carrying women’s MMA changed the way she once viewed fighting.

Those reflections came shortly before the Netflix fight officially got underway, with Rousey admitting that this return feels less like unfinished business and more like rediscovering something she genuinely missed. For a fighter once driven by pressure and expectations, the emotional shift appears to be at the center of this comeback.

Much of Ronda Rousey’s original rise in MMA came with immense pressure. As one of the sport’s first global female stars, she was not only expected to dominate but also prove women’s fighting belonged on the biggest stage. That intensity, according to Rousey, slowly turned success into something exhausting rather than fulfilling.

“I felt like I had to suffer in order to be the best...Now I’m realizing that it’s quite the opposite. I need to find my place of joy in order to be the best,” Rousey told Netflix Tudum while reflecting on how dramatically her mindset has changed.

This training camp, by comparison, appears to have been built around balance rather than burnout. Instead of chasing the relentless pressure and suffering that once defined her UFC rise, Rousey says the focus this time has been on healing, positivity, and actually enjoying the process again.

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For Rousey, meanwhile, the opponent standing across from her makes this return feel even more meaningful.

The matchup with Gina Carano carries years of symbolism for women’s MMA. Long before the UFC fully embraced women fighters, Carano had already helped bring mainstream visibility to the sport, making her one of the names many fighters from Ronda Rousey’s generation grew up watching.

Their long-anticipated showdown, now underway on Netflix, feels less like a continuation of Rousey’s earlier career and more like a full-circle moment between two women who helped shape different eras of the sport.

As the fight now unfolds, the biggest difference between this version of Rousey and the one fans remember from her UFC peak may not be physical at all — it may simply be that, for the first time in years, she seems to be enjoying the experience.

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Do you think this version of Ronda Rousey could be even stronger than the one fans remember from her UFC peak? Let us know in the comments.