Becky Lynch Links Rousey’s MMA Return to Shayna Baszler Match
Ronda Rousey says becky lynch was not the reason she came back to fighting, but her August 2023 match with Shayna Baszler helped push her there. She now has a May 16, 2026 MMA return against Gina Carano, and she says the idea arrived after nearly a decade without wanting to reopen that part of her career.
Rousey’s MMA fire returned
“But I didn't have any desire to reopen it until the idea for this match came into my mind, and that suddenly reignited that fire in me again,” Rousey said before the fight. She said the match with Baszler was part of that shift, adding, “I think the match with Shayna is what made me miss MMA a little bit.”
That return is set for May 16, 2026, with Rousey facing Carano for Jake Paul’s MVP and Netflix. The fight gives her a direct path back into MMA after the last nine years, a stretch she said she had no desire to break until the Carano matchup came into view.
SummerSlam changed the direction
Rousey’s second WWE run began in 2022, when she won the Women’s Royal Rumble and later faced Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 38. It ended in August 2023 with an MMA Rules match against Baszler at SummerSlam, a bout she said gave her a different kind of pull back toward the sport she left behind.
She described that match as a straight shot of familiarity, saying, “because we got to actually flow around a bit, and we were actually hitting each other. We're like, ‘Just go for the forehead.’ And stuff like that. [laughs]” Rousey also said, “I love that fight being my [last] match.”
Baszler match, then Carano
Rousey framed the MMA Rules bout as a sharp exit, calling it “a big middle finger to WWE fans and people in the business who would not get it.” She added, “And being the true heel, I wanted to give the big middle finger to all the fans on the way out and put on the fight that I wanted to put on with my best friend.”
She said the match may have fit another setting better, adding, “I think it would've probably gone much better over at like Bloodsport or something like that, but I think it was kind of the best way for me to be able to say goodbye.” On the possibility of joining Bloodsport, she joked, “I don't know — I mean, I know we could put on something great, but man, I feel like I gotta grow up. I gotta grow up and go have some more kids, and go to some soccer matches or something.”
The line between her WWE exit and MMA return is now direct: Baszler’s match helped make her miss fighting, and the Carano bout is the result. Rousey says that spark may not come back again after this one.
