Ronda Rousey is willing to go to extreme lengths to win her upcoming fight against Gina Carano. So much so that the former UFC bantamweight champion has enlisted the help of her former rival’s coach, Ricky Lundell. Rousey faces Carano on May 16, 2026, at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, live on Netflix. But before the fight, Rousey revealed how she went from hating her new coach’s guts to loving him.
“We were mortal enemies. We started as mortal enemies,” Rousey said in a YouTube video on her channel. “He was coaching against me on The Ultimate Fighter! And he was so nice! I was like, ‘This motherf—ker is so patronizing and fake.’ And I hated his guts… But he’s actually the nicest motherf—ker. Actually, the nicest person you will ever meet. It’s so nice that you don’t think it’s real…
Besides the opposing coach’s role in season 18 of The Ultimate Fighter reality series, Lundell trained Miesha Tate before UFC 168 in December 2013, where Rousey secured a third-round armbar submission win. The pair had fought under the Strikeforce banner once a year prior in March, where Rousey secured an identical win over Tate. But her problems with Lundell had begun only after the UFC fight.
“After I beat Miesha, even though you told her to stop diving for the goddamn legs… But I was still like, ‘F—k that guy. He tried to hurt me. He tried to help somebody hurt me, and you’re dead to me.’ But then he used to [be] Trav’s coach… Sometimes, like, ‘No, you gotta give him a chance. He’s a really nice guy.’ And I was like, ‘Dead to me.’
Lundell went on to explain that when he and Ronda Rousey crossed paths again at the Glendale Fighting Club, she wasn’t yet in a relationship with her future husband, Travis Browne, though both were training at the same gym. Because Lundell was coaching Browne, it naturally led to brief interactions between him and Rousey. However, despite those small exchanges, Rousey remained noticeably distant toward him, something that left Lundell puzzled.
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“So then, [Trav and I] fall deeply, deeply in love… Trav goes and stays at Ricky’s house. And I’m basically just in the one room… Just smoking w**d and playing World of Warcraft all day. I would only emerge to eat cereal. But you were really nice, and you kept me supplied with cereal and milk at all times. So then I was like, ‘Okay, okay, I really like Ricky. He’s really nice.’ He kept me supplied with cereal and a place to play World of Warcraft, cry, and smoke w**d during my depression.
From there, their relationship only flourished, as Rousey took Lundell on as a student to teach him judo. She acknowledged that Lundell helped her reignite her passion for fighting. Rousey eventually had her two daughters in 2021 and 2025, before making her comeback to MMA with the Gina Carano fight, where she chose Ricky Lundell to train her.
“This is all because of Ricky, and I went from hating his guts to him like changing my life for the better, and I’ll be eternally grateful. And it’s been the greatest experience ever.”
Ronda Rousey blasts the UFC for being the worst place for combat sports
The former UFC bantamweight champion didn’t hold back when addressing the current state of the UFC. Ahead of her return at MVP MMA 1, Rousey voiced frustration with how the promotion treats its fighters, claiming it has grown complacent as the dominant force in MMA.
“I feel like we’re in a crossroads for the sport, and this is the beginning of a big change that is long overdue,” she said.
Rousey believes the organization needs “to be reminded of the precariousness of their situation” and start valuing fighters again.
“They’ve become too comfortable with being the dominant force in the industry, and just making fighters offers where they go, ‘Take it or leave it, what else are you going to do?’
“It used to be anti-establishment, and now it’s become the establishment.
She believes the UFC has lost perspective and must change,
“They need to start appreciating the fighters that give everything that they do any value at all.”
It appears Ronda Rousey is heading into her next fight with a solid partnership with her new trainer. However, it’s yet to be seen whether the former UFC champion still has what it takes to win and entertain.
