Ronda Rousey stops Gina Carano 17 seconds into comeback bout - 'It was just beautiful martial arts'

Ronda Rousey stopped Gina Carano with her signature armbar just 17 seconds into the iconic fighter's mixed martial arts comeback bout on Saturday night.

The 39-year-old Rousey ended a nine-and-a-half year absence from MMA when she took the cage with the 44-year-old Carano, who hadn't fought in 17 years.

Rousey (13-2) wasted no time when the door finally closed, charging and tackling Carano an instant after the opening bell rang.

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Rousey quickly moved into position and applied her famous finishing move, wrenching Carano's arm as the fight was stopped.

"I really didn't want to hurt her," Rousey said. "Luckily it was just beautiful martial arts, that's what it is."

Rousey famously won eight fights in less than a minute during her meteoric rise through MMA in the 2010s. When asked if she considered waiting a bit longer to go for the finish in a fight so many years in the making, Rousey laughed.

"Hell no," she said. "My husband and my kids are watching me. I don't want to put them through anything more than I have to."

Carano was all smiles even after the swift end to one of the longest layoffs in pro sports history. Rousey and Carano hugged and shared warm words after the finish.

"I felt so ready," Carano said. "I've never felt that good. But I haven't been here for 17 years ... and I wanted to hit her."

This improbable double comeback bout united two of the most important fighters from MMA's past two decades.

Rousey became one of the world's most famous athletes as she won the first women's title in the UFC, which only began to promote women's MMA because of Rousey's undeniable talent and star power.

Rousey first became interested in MMA because of Carano, whose athleticism and star power made her into a television headliner when the sport was still fighting for legitimacy and acceptance in the late 2000s.

Carano was happy to finally accept the comeback she had occasionally considered, saying she used her preparations as a way to overcome multiple health problems from recent years.

Rousey has repeatedly said this will be her final fight, while Carano has said she doesn't know what the future holds.

Ngannou wins and teases potential boxing and MMA bouts

Veteran heavyweight star Francis Ngannou finished Philipe Lins in the first round of just his second MMA fight in four years.

The former UFC champion immediately teased the possibility of a boxing match with promoter Jake Paul or an MMA bout with fellow superstar Jon Jones, who also attended the show.

Ngannou exchanged strikes and clinches with Lins before finishing the Brazilian with a sweeping left hand to the head in the final minute of the first round.

Ngannou then engaged in some promotional banter with Paul, who has made a boxing career out of beating martial artists. Jones told the broadcasters that he would fight Ngannou if he could get out of his UFC contract.

Ngannou won the UFC belt in 2021 and unified it in 2022 before walking away from the world's dominant MMA promotion. He had taken just one MMA bout since then, and he lost two big-money boxing matches to British heavyweight stars Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua in Saudi Arabia.