Ronda Rousey: ‘I respect you and I’m breaking your arm’

Ronda Rousey put a noteworthy capper on an incredible MMA career Saturday night when she forced Gina Carano into submission in 17 seconds.

On Sunday, Rousey, 39, revealed what she’d shared with Carano immediately prior to making short work of her in the ring.

“I told her, ‘I respect you and I’m breaking your arm,'” Rousey said. “No contradiction there. I was hoping to come out as unscathed as possible. I didn’t really want to hurt her. It was beautiful. It felt like the magic was back.”

Rousey, who announced her return to retirement following the win, took Carano down quickly, then evaded a Carano guillotine attempt before landing a few strikes from mount and locking in the inevitable submission.

Rousey-Carano capped off Netflix’s MMA debut, as Rousey, the inaugural UFC bantamweight champion, and Carano, 44, each made their return to the sport following long retirements. Rousey won with her signature armbar in the featherweight fight at Inglewood, Calif., at Most Valuable Promotions’ first MMA event.

It was the fourth victory in under 35 seconds for Rousey, who improved to 13-2-0 in MMA while securing her 10th submission win.

“There’s no way I could’ve ended it better than this,” Rousey added. “This is a storybook ending if this is the end of my book as a fighter. I never thought I would come back. It didn’t cross my mind at all. But getting back into it reminded me of the joy that it gave me from the very beginning.

“Gina brought me into this sport, and she brought me back to it. We both needed to reclaim our bodily identity and rewrite our own ending together. It lifted a huge weight off my shoulders. I feel like I got the closure I needed.”

–Field Level Media