I am geeking out over the long-anticipated fight between Ronda Rousey (age 39) and Gina Carano (43), which will stream live on Netflix on May 16th. It’s a superfight that’s more than a decade in the making between two immensely popular pioneers of women’s mixed martial arts (MMA).
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I am loving the hype for this fight, and I’m not even a serious follower of MMA. Both fighters are returning after lengthy retirements: Rousey’s last MMA fight was nearly 10 years ago; Carano’s last fight was nearly 17 years ago. Rousey is heavily favored to win, at 4 to 1 odds, as of early March. Given the two fighters’ ages, their extended time away from pro fighting, and the uneven odds, I’ve accepted that this fight might be … underwhelming.
But I’m undeterred; I purchased two tickets for the fight on the first day that seats went on sale. I even flew to Los Angeles to cover the pre-fight press conference on March 10 at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood. The press conference was open to the public. I expected a rowdy event, bristling with aggression from fighters and from attendees. Instead, I encountered a smallish, grey-haired woman with a handmade sign; she was hoping for autographs. I chatted with a friendly guy in his 40’s, who recently took up the sport of judo. He even drove from Las Vegas to attend the press conference, hoping for a chance to see Rousey and Carano up close. I stood elbow-to-elbow with another older man who asked me, “Have you ever been to anything like this before?” The answer was “No,” for both of us.
The thread which seemingly joined us was a belief that we were participants in something historic. We will have plenty of company come fight day. Millions of people around the world are expected to tune-in. This is Netflix’s first foray into live MMA competition. But they’ve already proven the formula, via nostalgia-inspired boxing. Or, as The Wall Street Journal recently reported, Netflix’s New Strategy: Old People Fighting. In 2024, Netflix broadcast a live boxing match featuring 58-year-old Mike Tyson. He fought Jake Paul, the YouTube megastar who was 27 years old at the time. Their fight became the most-streamed sporting event ever, with 65 million live concurrent streams and 108 million total live viewers around the world, per Netflix figures.
I was one of the millions who tuned in. Paul won the fight rather handily but that was almost besides the point. Iron Mike Tyson’s return to the ring, even at age 58 while wearing a knee brace, was an event. I wanted to be part of it. I had tuned in four years earlier, on pay-per-view, when Tyson was a youthful 54 and he fought Roy Jones Jr., who was a spry(-ish) 51. That fight was entertaining, particularly the ringside commentary from Snoop Dogg, who famously shouted:
“This sh*t [is] like two of my uncles fighting at the barbecue!”
Tyson vs Jones ended in a draw but won big at the box office; it raked in 1.6 million PPV purchases and more than $80 million in revenue, making it one of the top 10 PPV events ever at that time. So, the data confirms that older fighters can bring in big audiences and big bucks. But what’s so entertaining about watching them mix it up in the ring or in the cage? Head to your corners, wait for the bell, and then let’s discuss.
Round 1: Don’t call it a comeback. Call it a reboot
Rousey vs Carano is partly a comeback story. Each fighter retired after a loss, so they have unfinished business in the cage. But it’s a comeback with a new storyline, aka a reboot. This time around they’re fighting each other, for the first time ever. It’s the fight we thought might never happen.
Tyson vs Jones in their 50’s was their first fight versus each other, too. A bout between them was proposed in the early 2000’s, but only happened 20 years later. And Tyson vs Paul, well, that was a hard reboot. It introduced a new and villainous main character, Paul, who was born 10 years after Iron Mike became the undisputed heavyweight champ.
Netflix knows a thing or two about reboots. When they rebooted The Karate Kid movie with the Cobra Kai TV series, my wife and I were hooked. I even bought us Eagle Fang Dojo t-shirts. Netflix is also pretty good at sequels. They recently announced Mayweather vs Pacquiao 2, a live boxing rematch pitting Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. (49) against Manny “PacMan” Pacquiao (47) on September 19th. Their first bout went down 10-plus years ago.
Round 2: Anything can happen
In my all-time favorite movie, The Fighter, boxer Dicky Eklund (played by Christian Bale) asks his younger brother and fellow boxer, Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg), a gut-wrenching question:
Dicky: “Hey Mick, you think I knocked down Sugar Ray Leonard?”
Micky: “You went ten rounds. One of the best to ever do it. He couldn’t hurt you. You were my hero.”
Dicky: “I was. I was.”
The dialogue is based on a true story. Eklund was a local Massachusetts kid, “The Pride of Lowell,” who held his own in the ring against undefeated Sugar Ray Leonard. Leonard won the fight. Eklund wasn’t credited for a knockdown of Leonard either, because it was ruled a slip. But the point is, anything can happen in the ring or in the cage.
When Tyson fought Paul, who was 31 years younger, pretty much everyone watching wanted to see the brash youngster get knocked out. It didn’t happen but…it could have. Rousey is a heavy favorite to defeat the older Carano but, as Carano recently posted to her Instagram account, “You never know, lightning could strike.”
And that’s why we watch. No matter how old the fighter, or how great the odds, all it takes is one shot. One shot made George Foreman the oldest heavyweight champion in boxing history. He KO’d an opponent who was nearly 20 years younger. The New York Times wrote about it in Foreman’s obituary:
“Foreman was trailing on the judges’ scorecards when he managed to land the big punch he was looking for and knocked Moorer out in the 10th round. Moorer had thrown 641 punches, to 369 by Foreman. But the last one was the one that counted. Foreman had stood rather than sit on a stool between rounds, as if to defy his 45 years.”
Round 3: Strong is beautiful
Shout out to Carano and Rousey for making strong beautiful. They forged a place for women in combat sports, and in doing so they transcended sports into TV, movies, and magazines. In her memoir “My Fight, Your Fight,” Rousey reveals the body shaming she endured for being a strong, muscular woman. She crushed those tropes with the deftness of a champion. She and Carano were both celebrated in ESPN Magazine’s Body issue. Both played beautiful, badass women in separate Fast & Furious movies.
I benefit directly from their legacy. I’m a personal trainer and a gym owner. I work with female clients of all ages and abilities, who pursue strength as a transformative benefit, without concern for outdated stereotypes that Rousey and Carano pounded into submission. Many of my personal training clients, even those in their 70’s and 80’s, like to pull on boxing gloves and hit the heavy bag. It’s a great workout.
My point is, when an older fighter steps back into the ring or into the cage, they are relatable to us, or even iconic. They are imperfect, but so are we. It makes us cheer for them a little harder.
Round 4: Get the show on, get paid
Tyson reportedly earned $20 million for fighting Paul on Netflix. It’s not known yet how much Rousey and Carano will earn for their Netflix bout, but it should be significant amount. Good for them. Or, as Jeff Wagenheim succinctly wrote in an article for ESPN.com:
“This is an opportunity for two pioneers of women’s MMA to have a night in the spotlight they created. And presumably, a substantial purse will be involved. Fighters don’t get a pension. Some prepare for a future outside the cage or ring, and some leave the sport penniless.”
Final Round: Everybody loves a training montage
Look, what’s the point of getting hyped about a superfight, without watching lots of hype videos? I’m talking real versions and movie versions, with training footage laid down over righteous music. When Tyson announced he was coming out of retirement back in 2020, he quieted A LOT of skeptics by posting clips of his fierce training.
For my money, the best, most goosebump-inducing training montage is from The Fighter. Micky prepares for a fight after breaking his hand during an altercation with police, where he was protecting brother Dicky. Meanwhile in the montage, Dicky readies himself for an elusive comeback, by training from his jail cell. Throw in a Red Hot Chili Peppers tune and you’ve got 2 minutes of knockout inspiration.
Close second on my scorecard is the montage from Creed. Michael B. Jordan and Sylvester Stallone get you fired up with a reboot of the original Rocky training sequence.
So, there you have it. Five reasons why we love to watch living legends fight one more time. Or maybe a couple more times. Win, lose, or draw, we don’t want to miss it.
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