With Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano finally signed for May 16, it's worth revisiting the offensive text message from Dana White that killed this superfight a decade ago — and ended his relationship with Carano entirely.
In a 2019 interview with Ariel Helwani, Carano revealed the full story of how close she came to fighting Rousey in the UFC, and how spectacularly it fell apart over broken trust and a text message that was never meant for her to see.
The Setup: A Million Dollars and One Request
Around 2015, at the height of Ronda Rousey's dominance, UFC president Dana White and then-owner Lorenzo Fertitta took Carano to a "nice dinner" and offered her $1 million to fight Rousey. Carano left the meeting "stoked" about the opportunity.
She had one specific request: six months to step away from her Hollywood career, find a legitimate gym, build a proper team, and get back into fighting shape. Most importantly, she asked White to keep the negotiations quiet during that preparation period.
White agreed.
The very next day, he began publicly discussing signing Carano.
"I asked him to just keep it quiet for six months while I built a team and got ready," Carano told Helwani. "The next day, he's talking about it publicly. That broke the trust."
The Text Message
As public pressure mounted and Carano struggled to prepare under the media spotlight she'd specifically asked to avoid, White sent her a text message clearly intended for someone else:
"This b**** isn't f**king us around."
Carano's response was ice-cold: "I think you sent that to the wrong person."
White's reply was even colder: "I don't think I did."
That exchange marked their last communication. The million-dollar superfight was dead.
Why It Hurt
The text wasn't just offensive. It represented everything Carano had come to resent about her dealings with White and the UFC. Years earlier, when she was fighting for Strikeforce and preparing to face Cris Cyborg, White and Fertitta had approached her with an offer to join the WEC instead, specifically encouraging her not to take the Cyborg fight. Carano refused, stating she'd given her word to Strikeforce and her fans.
When the Rousey opportunity came around, the pattern repeated: an agreement made in private, immediately broken in public, followed by pressure tactics when she tried to hold White to his word.
I have a problem with the abuse of authority. People holding money over my head has never been a turn-on for me. That's ultimately what led to me cutting off communication."
Gina Carano to Ariel Helwani
The Apology That Didn't Matter
White did eventually apologize to Carano in person at a Sports Hall of Fame event where both her father and Mike Tyson were being honored. But by then, the damage was irreversible.
The text message had confirmed what Carano already suspected about how White viewed her — not as a partner in negotiations, but as someone to be controlled and pressured into compliance.
A Decade Later
What the UFC couldn't make happen in 2015, Jake Paul's Most Valuable Promotions has now delivered. Rousey vs. Carano is signed for May 16, 2026 — a fight that represents the resolution of one of women's MMA's most infamous "what if" stories.
The fight is happening a decade late and under a completely different banner than anyone expected. Despite Rousey being heavily favored, at least Dana White won't be anywhere near the negotiations.