Ronda Rousey will return to MMA combat for the first time in nearly a decade next month, but she's not calling it a comeback. The former UFC women's bantamweight champion faces Gina Carano on May 16 at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, in the main event of the first MMA card to air on Netflix. The 39-year-old Rousey describes this as an opportunity for closure rather than a triumphant return.

Her departure from the sport was bitter. Rousey's final UFC appearance came at UFC 207 on December 30, 2016, when Amanda Nunes quickly defeated her. Earlier, she suffered her first loss to Holly Holm in 2015—an experience so painful she hid her face with a pillow at the airport to avoid being seen. "It was all f---ed up," Rousey told ESPN. Behind the scenes, she was dealing with concussion-like symptoms throughout her career and feared she was developing CTE.

Now living quietly in Riverside, California with her husband Travis Browne and their two daughters, Rousey views this fight differently. "This is a chance for me to rewrite my ending," she said. The Netflix event marks her return under Jake Paul's Most Valuable Promotions, but more importantly, it represents a chance to heal old wounds with a sport that defined her legacy.