For the first time in nearly 10 years, Ronda Rousey will return to the MMA world when she takes on former Strikeforce fighter Gina Carano under the Most Valuable Promotions banner on May 16. One of the people most pumped for Rousey's comeback is her former wrestling opponent Raquel Rodriguez."I love Ronda. I'm so excited for her, for this point of her career," Rodriguez told "TMZ's Inside The Ring." "She's a mom. Her babies are old enough, especially her oldest is old enough to see her do what she loves and what she trained her whole life for. I think that's so important when you have kids and they're able to share that with you. It's such a beautiful moment. So I'm excited for her on that end. I think working with her was just some of the most creative times in my career because she brings a different element to the ring. She brings that MMA factor."Throughout her WWE career, Rousey shared the wrestling ring with Rodriguez on more than a dozen occasions, two of which saw Rousey successfully defend the WWE Smackdown Women's Championship on television. In their last encounter, set at WWE Money in the Bank 2023, Rodriguez dethroned Rousey as a WWE Women's Tag Team Champion after Shayna Baszler turned on the "Rowdy" one. Rousey's last WWE match took place at WWE SummerSlam the following month, with the decorated champion now considering her wrestling work a thing of the past.Rousey's upcoming MMA fight with Carano will emanate from the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, California, broadcasting live on Netflix. The bout itself will stretch five five-minute rounds using four-ounce gloves and be sanctioned under the Unified Rules of MMA.If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "TMZ's Inside The Ring" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
