Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano saved the best for last.
Saturday night, Rousey and Carano face off in the main event of Most Valuable Promotion’s first MMA event, broadcast live on Netflix. Over the course of the build-up for the fight, the promotion has been a bit strange as Rousey and Carano have been incredibly respectful of each other, but at the ceremonial weigh-ins on Friday, the two pioneers’ competitive spirits finally showed through a bit.
Rousey has always been known for her fiery faceoffs, and despite her respect for Carano, “Rowdy” brought that same energy to their final faceoff at the ceremonial weigh-ins on Friday, getting right in Carano’s face with her millimeters from Carano’s face. Carano was happy to meet Rousey’s intensity, squaring up with her opponent and nearly going nose-to-nose with her, then dancing as they continued to stare each other down.
After the two finished their faceoff, each fighter gave their final message to the crowd, with Carano talking about her revelation earlier today that she lost 100 pounds for this fight.
“I had no idea I could get down to 141,” Carano said. “I got lighter than Ronda today. That was pretty cool. Live your dreams, don’t give up on yourself, do the hard thing. That was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but here I am.
“That was the first victory. I’m going to give you another victory tomorrow night.”
Rousey, meanwhile, reaffirmed that this is her final fight and took the whole experience in.
“Usually, I’m just trying to skip through this part and get to the end, but man, it’s really cool to be here. Thank you guys for all coming out. This is my very last weigh-in. I’m glad you could all be part of it, and I can’t wait to kick some ass tomorrow.”
Before Rousey and Carano faced off, the co-main event between Nate Diaz and Mike Perry took to the stage, with Perry being particularly amped up, screaming at Diaz repeatedly.
“Let’s go, bro. We keep facing off, we keep talking about fighting, tomorrow night, we’re going to get in there and do it!” Perry said after. “I’m ready for this! This is my favorite part!
“I’m taking the judges out of it! I’m getting him out of there! I’m knocking out Nate Diaz!”
Diaz, meanwhile, brought his normal laconic energy to his final words, feigning a choke attempt on emcee Ariel Helwani before dismissing Perry’s final challenge.
“I’m motivated to be back,” Diaz said. “I’m glad to be here. Coming out of Stockton, California, you know what’s up. I came here to kill and go home un-killed, motherf*cker!”
Check out the full final faceoffs for Rousey vs. Carano at MVP MMA 1 above.
Rousey vs. Carano goes down on Saturday night from Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif., with the prelims starting at 6 p.m. ET on YouTube, and the main card kicking off at 9 p.m. ET on Netflix.
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