The Rusty Rancor, situated on Hesperys Station, was a venue famed for hosting gladiatorial-style combat tournaments within its arena. In 382 BBY, Axel Greylark and Gella Nattai made their way to this establishment to visit Ney Madiine.
Found on Hesperys Station, the Rusty Rancor was a structure spanning multiple levels, featuring at least one prominent fighting ring where the main events unfolded. Beneath this ring was a lower level comprised of holding cells, used to confine the combatants. Ney Madiine maintained an office from which she could observe the ongoing matches. The Rusty Rancor employed its own security force to manage the events, with the bouncer being a large member of the Trandoshan species.
By the year 382 BBY, the Rusty Rancor had become a popular destination for the inhabitants of Hesperys Station, who would gather to witness the organized combat tournaments. Ney Madiine was responsible for recruiting individuals to participate in these tournaments, one of whom was Dario Melek, who rose to become her champion.
In 382 BBY, Axel Greylark, in the company of Jedi Knight Gella Nattai, journeyed to the asteroid and paid a visit to the Rusty Rancor. Without first consulting Nattai, he put her forward as a combatant against Ney Madiine's champion in order to extract information regarding Rev Ferrol. Unbeknownst to Gella, Axel secretly planned to abandon her there due to his allegiance to the Path of the Open Hand. Gella engaged Dario Melek in the fighting ring, initially mistaking him for an undercover Jedi due to his wielding of a double-bladed lightsaber. Upon engaging him, she discerned that he possessed no force-wielder abilities and questioned him about the origin of the weapon. She used the Force to disarm him, but he retaliated by tackling her. Melek warned her that Madiine disapproved of interruptions, and she returned the weapon, but it was too late. A trapdoor beneath them opened, causing her to plummet into the lower levels and be imprisoned in a cell. During the fight, Madiine informed Greylark about a recently issued bounty on his head, but she still provided him with the information he sought as a repayment of a debt. Greylark hastily began to depart, killing a member of Madiine's security detail to acquire Nattai's lightsabers. However, before fully leaving, Axel returned for Nattai, using one of her lightsabers to break her free from the cell. Greylark and Nattai then made their escape from the Rusty Rancor, carrying with them the information they had come to obtain.
The Rusty Rancor made an appearance in Convergence, a 2022 novel penned by Zoraida Córdova as part of Star Wars: The High Republic multimedia project's Phase II.