So far, Ronda Rousey has kept the MMA audience hooked with her promotional prowess before her comeback fight on May 16. Ahead of the MVP’s first MMA event on Netflix, ‘Rowdy’ went on a scorching rant about UFC fighter pay that brought more attention to her bout with women’s MMA great Gina Carano. With that much buzz surrounding the event, fans expect it to turn into a night full of exciting fights. However, UFC veteran Benson Henderson has now shared a warning with the two women’s MMA pioneers about training seriously for the fight ahead.
“I just hope Gina has been training the entire time. I hope that Gina, Ronda too, that they are actually training, like actually training the whole time,” the former UFC lightweight champion said in an Exclusive interview with EssentiallySports. “It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, hey, here’s this opportunity to make $10 million.’ And they’re like, ‘Okay, I’ll start training now,’ and they’ve been training for the past six months. Like if that is the case, it won’t look very good. The product they bring to the table will not look good. And that’s the most important part.
“What you bring to the table, the product you bring, the product you display, that has to look good. You can have a fancy package, can be fancy, wrapped all nice, super fancy wrapping, a bunch of display, you can spend $20 million on production, have the best cameras, the best lighting, have this and have that, but if what you bring to the table is c—p, people aren’t going to tune in next time.”
The former UFC bantamweight champion formally returned to MMA training in September 2025, eight months after giving birth to her second child. Initially, she helped her coach with judo before gradually moving toward pad work and other forms of training in preparation for the upcoming bout.
On the other hand, Rousey’s opponent began her return journey in 2024 after Rousey motivated her to start training again. Later, Gina Carano also started uploading her training clips on social media in late 2025. So, it appears both MVP headliners have been taking their preparation seriously ahead of the big Netflix fight.
However, when it comes to claims that the fight is just a cash grab, Carano’s coach, John Wood, already reassured fans that this is not the case and insisted she is taking the fight seriously. Still, doubts continue to creep into fans’ minds because both women are making their comeback after spending more than a decade away from the sport.
Now, while UFC lightweight great Benson Henderson has some concerns about the main event potentially falling flat, he seems to have a completely different opinion about another main card fight that he believes could turn the event into a spectacle.
Benson Henderson expects a “bloody war” between Diaz and Perry on the Ronda Rousey-Gina Carano card
Other than the main event, MVP’s Netflix card also features several marquee bouts, including Francis Ngannou vs. Phelipe Lins in the co-main event. However, the former UFC lightweight champion has his eyes on the Nate Diaz vs. Mike Perry bout, which he believes could turn into an all-out war.
“That’s interesting,” Henderson added in the same exclusive. “That could be a good fight. That could be a bloody war is what it could be. I think they’re gonna stay standing. I think Nate, if he was smart, he might try to take it to the ground.
“Perry’s pretty good wrestling, takedown defense. But if they were smart, they’d get down and do some jiu-jitsu right away. But I have a feeling they’re just gonna stand there and play together a whole lot. It might be fun to watch. I might tune in for that one, I would tune in for that one for sure.”
And that is definitely a fair point. Nate Diaz has already cemented his status as one of the most violent fighters in UFC history after engaging in brutal wars against names like Conor McGregor, Anthony Pettis, and Leon Edwards. On the flip side, Mike Perry earned his ‘King of Violence’ reputation because of his recent explosive BKFC run. So, the matchup is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated fights on the card and could very well end up as an MMA Fight of the Year contender.
There is still a chance fans could criticize the event if the headliner fails to deliver while the rest of the card turns out to be far more exciting.
