Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano face off in a major

Ronda Rousey returns to the ring on Saturday to face Gina Carano at the Intuit Dome in a card that its promoters hope will show that combined martial arts (MMA) can generate the same pleasure as boxing without the UFC.

The five-round, 145-pound bout airing on Netflix (6 p.m. PDT) would be the first MMA event promoted by Most Valuable Promotions (MVP), the company co-founded by Jake Paul and Nakisa Bridarian. According to Bridarian, the cardboard is the most costly in MVP historical past, with each fighter receiving at least $40,000 — a sum higher than what UFC rookies obtain.

“I would say this is the most expensive MMA card ever put together,” Bridarian said Wednesday. “We can only do this because we have a partner [Netflix] that allows us to pull it off, and they deserve it.”

Rousey (12-2), a Riverside native, is returning to competitors after a nine-year hiatus, during which she starred in motion pictures, wrestled in the WWE and turned a mom of two. Her casual retirement got here after consecutive losses to Holly Holm in 2015 and Amanda Nunes in 2016. For the Californian, this combat is the profession finale she never had.

“It’s incredible, because I feel like, no matter what happens, I’m completely at peace with it,” Rousey said. “Before, winning was the most important thing in the world. Now, what matters most to me are my kids and my family.”

Rousey hopes the event will draw more than 9 million viewers, a threshold that would help persuade Netflix and MVP to invest in MMA on a sustained foundation. The MMA scores file belongs to the combat between Junior dos Santos and Cain Velasquez at UFC on Fox 1 on Nov. 12, 2011, which peaked at 8.8 million viewers and averaged 5.7 million during its broadcast.

Netflix has already demonstrated an urge for food for fight sports activities, posting spectacular numbers: it drew a global viewers of 33 million for Paul versus Anthony Joshua, 41.4 million for the Canelo Álvarez-Terence Crawford bout and 108 million for the Paul-Mike Tyson combat. However, promoters are conscious that MMA operates in a different league and that on Saturday they’ll have the top ambassador of girls’s MMA in motion.

Ronda Rousey lunges ahead and punches during an open workout at Venice Beach on Wednesday forward of Netflix MMA bout against Gina Carano at Intuit Dome.

(Sarah Stier / Getty Images for Netflix)

“I just want to convince MVP and Netflix that there’s something here worth investing in and that they should keep backing MMA,” Rousey said.

Carano (7-1), 44, also has a historic monitor file, having been half of the first girls’s MMA combat on live tv in 2007 and headlining the first Showtime card that includes two girls as main event fighters, dealing with Cris Cyborg in 2009. Although Carano is unlikely to pose a aggressive problem for Rousey, both girls are approaching the event more as pioneers than as rivals.

On Wednesday, Rousey educated at Venice Beach in entrance of dozens of followers, the same seaside where she started her profession. She was accompanied by Pauline Macías, a Brazilian judoka, MMA fighter and close pal since the age of 11.

“It’s the ending she deserves,” Rousey said of her particular training session forward of what may probably be her remaining combat as a fighter.

Beyond her combat, Rousey has her sights set on turning into a promoter to improve situations for fighters outdoors the UFC.

“It’s about giving the power back to the fighters and reminding people that we are the essence of this sport, not a brand or a belt,” said the 39-year-old fighter.

The match has been criticized for going down more than 10 years late, properly past the fighters’ prime. Carano disagreed.

“I think this fight is coming at just the right time,” Carano said. “Two years ago, you would have seen a different version of me. Right now, I’m in such a strong place that, well, I’ve had to go through all of this to get here.”

This article first appeared in Spanish via L.A. Times en Español.