During a conversation on JRE #2466, Joe Rogan broke down the upcoming Ronda Rousey versus Gina Carano match on Netflix, offering his take on why the bout will draw massive viewership despite the long layoffs both women have endured.
The discussion came up in the context of how Netflix is working with combat sports organizations. Rogan made his position clear: “The interesting challenge to that is this Netflix thing. So with Ronda Rousey versus Gina Carano. Even though Gina Carano hasn’t competed since the 2000s. I don’t remember what year was the last time she competed. I want to make a guess. I want to say 2007, 2008.”
After Jamie confirmed Carano’s last match was in 2009, Rogan continued: “She’s 43 and I think Ronda’s 39. But Ronda is so famous and people are so interested.”
He continued: “And if it’s on Netflix and people already have Netflix, I guarantee you you’ll get millions of people that’ll watch that. That’ll be good, right? And that’s good for the athletes. And I know they offered some athletes that I know a very large purse to compete on that card.”
The host then went on the talk about Carano’s 2009 matchup with Cyborg. Kisin was direct: “Cris Cyborg was a beast.”
Rogan agreed and states: “There was a lot of supplements involved in that. There was a lot going on with her. I mean, that was the wild west of testing and she looked like a freak.”
Despite that, he remained bullish on the entertainment value: “It’ll still be exciting. People will, you know, and hopefully they’ve had enough time. I know there’s a lot of video footage of Ronda training for quite a while. She lost a lot of weight. She got really slim. She looks fit. She looks outstanding, especially with her grappling. She’s doing a lot of judo throws and arm bars and she doesn’t look like she’s lost a step.”
He was quick to add a caveat though: “There’s a difference between that and competition. There’s ring rust. There’s a lot of factors. Gina Carano was a legit Muay Thai champion. She’s got real power. And she was a very good striker when she was young. She was a very technical, solid striker when she was young.”
Rogan continued talking and mentioned Carano’s break: “How long did she stop training for? She did movies. She’s done The Mandalorian. She’s had a lot of success acting, but it seems like there was probably quite a bit of time. She lost a ton of weight, too.”
Rogan then laid out how he sees the stylistic matchup: “When it comes to grappling, you give Ronda a big advantage. She’s one of the best submission artists ever, period. Her arm bar is about as good as it gets. She’s got fantastic judo, bronze medalist in the Olympics.”
Talking about Gina, he stated: “When it comes to Gina, Gina was like a solid striker when she was young and the difference in striking would definitely benefit Gina. You would have to lean in her direction. But again, when you’re talking about like 2009, it’s a long time, man. 17 years. It’s a long time to not compete.”
