MVP brought MMA to Netflix on Saturday, and the inaugural mixed martial arts event on the streaming giant most certainly drew eyeballs.
Not just to the streaming giant, either. Rousey vs. Carano got people talking. Social media interaction was high. Traffic was up on numerous websites. In that sense, Saturday was a good day for MMA.
Of course, there will always be naysayers. There are always ups and downs. MVP MMA’s Rousey vs. Carano card wasn’t a perfect event by any means, and there are lots of aspects about the show that can be criticized. However, if there’s any one takeaway, it’s that competition is good for the sport. With apologies to the PFL, MMA isn’t a “league sport.” It’s not stick-and-ball. It’s prize fighting, and the best comparisons are either boxing, or professional wrestling. 90s wrestling fans will tell you, that business was at its best when the “Monday Night Wars” between WWE and WCW were in full swing. It forced both companies to innovate.
Can MVP MMA, if it moves forward, do the same for the UFC, which has grown stale so far in 2026? Time will tell, but Rousey vs. Carano certainly suggested it’s possible.
We’ll get to that, and more, as we break down some of the biggest takeaways from Saturday’s card at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles.
No, the fix wasn’t in
Perhaps the downright dumbest discourse surrounding Rousey vs. Carano, in particular about the main event itself, came after the fight, with various talking heads on social media yelling “fix!” As if rigging the main event in favour of the fighter widely expected to win it, exactly in the fashion she did, would make any sense at all.
Gina Carano was a massive underdog heading into Saturday’s Netflix card. She had not fought in 17 years, and dropped 100 pounds in the year and a half leading up to the fight. In fact, her shape, her physical condition, was in part what led Ronda Rousey to propose the fight in the first place: she wanted to give Carano something to work towards.
You can argue that, because of how friendly the main event pair were ahead of the fight, they didn’t give it their all. And that would be an acceptable take. Yelling fix? Just say you’re desperate for engagement and attention.
Fixes, actual fixes, are incredibly rare in MMA. Mainly because the money isn’t generally worth it, and they’re incredibly difficult to pull off. In fact, discounting betting scandals involving Darrick Minner and Alexander Hernandez (which weren’t fixes, but rather injury information being leaked to the betting public), there’s really only been one verified instance of fight fixing in the UFC: Tae Hyun Bang’s fight against Leo Kuntz at UFC Fight Night 79 in South Korea, back in 2015. And, hilariously, though Bang was later convicted of accepting bribes to throw the fight, he never went through with it, getting cold feet after the UFC noticed a shift in betting lines and winning a split decision.
Aside from that, you’re left with Isaac Dulgarian’s fight against Yadier del Valle last November, in which Dulgarian tapped suspiciously quickly to a rear-naked choke while displaying zero defense. That bout remains under investigation, and could still amount to nothing. Or wind up being a similar situation to Minner, who was injured ahead of his November 2022 fight with Shayilan Nuerdanbieke and failed to disclose it (only for his coach, James Krause, to do a little insider trading with the knowledge).
Now, back to Rousey. If you’re new to MMA, maybe you missed her prime, where she finished opponents in 16 seconds, 14 seconds, and 34 seconds, all in title defenses in the UFC. Takedown, mount, arm-bar, rinse, repeat is basically what Rousey did for years. It made her the biggest star in the sport in her day. So ignore the likes of ex-pro wrestling manager and modern-day internet troll Jim Cornette (if Cornette ever recommended a restaurant, your best bet would be to flee in the opposite direction). There was no need to fix this fight; the outcome was a forgone conclusion from the start.
Whether MVP MMA is a promotion or not doesn’t matter
Speaking of bad takes, here’s another one: MVP MMA doesn’t matter, because it’s not a “promotion” in the traditional sense.
Here’s what actually doesn’t matter: whether or not MVP MMA is a promotion. In fact, it might be better if it isn’t.
Yes, MVP was playing with house money on Saturday. Netflix gave them a budget, had them work within it, and they put on the best show possible with the biggest names they could find. Now, that’s far different from investing in the sport, putting on multiple cards a month, and signing up a few hundred fighters to exclusive contracts. But isn’t that the problem? Exclusive contracts, and fighters not being able to make money elsewhere? At least if you’re a fighter anyway.
Netflix was a player in negotiations with the UFC for their latest broadcast deal, which ultimately saw Paramount+ become the exclusive home of the promotion in the U.S. and select other territories. Paramount Skydance arguably overpaid at $1.1 billion a year, but they’re trying to make their streaming service a real competitor. It’s a calculated risk, in other words.
Netflix is already number one, and the streaming giant wasn’t interested in Apex Slop. They wanted only the biggest UFC cards, the numbered events, which would have left UFC events split between broadcasters. Not impossible, the UFC, WWE, and other companies have done that repeatedly over the years. But Paramount came in with the sweetheart deal and snatched it all up.
MVP, should they move forward, likely will not be putting on multiple shows per month. Jake Paul has suggested maybe six or so a year. Which means no exclusive contracts, unless maybe only to a handful of top stars. And isn’t that a win, in a sense? Independent contractors should be free to fight where they please. Francis Ngannou spent years breaking free of the UFC’s shackles to get exactly this, the opportunity to take his services to the highest bidder. And MVP is going to be a very high bidder if they can keep putting on big events.
The disclosed payouts for Rousey vs. Carano, by the way, are worth looking at. California still releases disclosed fighter pay, and Rousey topped the payroll at $2.2 million U.S. Carano took home just north one $1 million, and Francis Ngannou earned $1.5 million. No one on the card made less than $40,000 in disclosed pay, far, far better than the UFC’s entry level fight purse of $12,000 to show, and another $12,000 to win.
In comparison, Rousey made $3 million for her final UFC fight, in 2016 in a loss to Amanda Nunes at UFC 207. Rousey, however, was making her much-anticipated return following the first defeat of her career. Her star power was at its peak. Nunes made a paltry $200,000 in show/win money in comparison.
Nganou? In his final UFC fight in 2022, he made just $600,000 for a win over Ciryl Gane. That was a flat fee, with no win bonus.
Tell me again why it matters if MVP MMA is a true promotion or not, if they’re offering even limited opportunities for fighters to be paid as well or better than they are in the UFC. Now, these numbers don’t reflect the PPV bonuses the UFC offers top stars (lower-tier fighters get no such luck), at least when PPV still existed, but the same is true of MVP’s numbers: they do not include any bonuses tied to viewership, promotional activities, etc.
In any case, a show that pays well, even just in one-offs here and there, is a good thing for MMA.
