{"id":678640,"date":"2026-05-18T13:00:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T13:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/678640\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T13:00:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T13:00:14","slug":"can-jake-pauls-mvp-mma-challenge-the-ufc-heres-what-rousey-vs-carano-told-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/678640\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Jake Paul\u2019s MVP MMA challenge the UFC? Here\u2019s what Rousey vs Carano told us"},"content":{"rendered":"

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On Saturday night, Jake Paul<\/a> delved into mixed martial arts (MMA<\/a>) for the first time \u2013 not as a fighter, despite plans he has teased in the past, but as a promoter. In fact, this was Netflix\u2019s first foray into MMA, too.<\/p>\n

Paul\u2019s Most Valuable Promotions (MVP)<\/a>, which he runs with Nakisa Bidarian<\/a>, hosted an event at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, as the action culminated in Ronda Rousey<\/a>\u2019s return to MMA. <\/p>\n

After a decade in professional wrestling and acting<\/a>, the former UFC<\/a> champion returned to the cage to face fellow trailblazer Gina Carano<\/a>. Seventeen seconds were all Rousey needed to beat her fellow American<\/a> with a signature armbar.<\/p>\n

\"MVP\u2019sMVP\u2019s Nakisa Bidarian (left) and Jake Paul (right) with Ronda Rousey (centre-left) and Gina Carano (Getty)<\/p>\n

In the chief-support bouts, there was further representation from ex-UFC stars, as former heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou secured a trademark knockout of Philipe Lins<\/a>, and fan favourite Nate Diaz was bloodied and beaten by Mike Perry<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So, there were plenty of familiar names in action, but can MVP become a genuine alternative to the UFC, MMA\u2019s flagship brand<\/a>? And does MVP even want to be such a competitor? Let\u2019s dive into Saturday\u2019s card, and what it means going forward.<\/p>\n

Star power<\/p>\n

Nowadays, you wouldn\u2019t see a UFC event with the accumulative star power of Rousey, Carano, Diaz and Ngannou. Many fans believe that UFC cards have worsened in quality in recent times, arguably since the company merged with pro-wrestling giant WWE under the TKO umbrella<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\"NateNate Diaz (right) was badly bloodied by Mike Perry en route to a stoppage loss (Getty)<\/p>\n

Even Saturday\u2019s announcement of Conor McGregor\u2019s summer comeback<\/a> brought the revelation of a card that will be strong… but which still won\u2019t have the overall star power that MVP MMA 1 did. Let\u2019s be clear: McGregor (who will compete for the first time in five years) has greater drawing power than any MMA fighter on the planet, and support from Max Holloway and Paddy Pimblett will be helpful at UFC 329, but the group of Rousey, Carano, Diaz and Ngannou is still more formidable in a certain sense.<\/p>\n

Match-up quality<\/p>\n

This is where MVP\u2019s debut suffered on paper, but \u2013 in turn \u2013 pleasantly surprised in reality. <\/p>\n

Rousey hadn\u2019t fought in 10 years, but the 39-year-old was still a big favourite against Carano, 44, who hadn\u2019t fought in 17 years. And actually, Rousey\u2019s clinical exhibition of technique was arguably the best-case scenario; had that fight gone any longer, it might have exposed how rusty the legends must surely be. <\/p>\n

Then there was Ngannou vs Lins. The latter is a former PFL heavyweight champion, but he was always likely to be fodder for Ngannou, and so he proved to be. At least Diaz vs Perry felt, in advance, as though it might be more evenly matched, and it did produce frantic, fun action for two rounds. Utimately, Diaz\u2019s historical scar-tissue issues cost him; the 41-year-old was bloodied and beaten before being pulled out of the fight.<\/p>\n

Still, you can clearly contrast the balance of these three fights with the overall quality of UFC 329, for example. <\/p>\n

\"Liverpool\u2019sLiverpool\u2019s Paddy Pimblett will face Benoit Saint-Denis in a mouthwatering bout (Getty)<\/p>\n

Pimblett vs Saint-Denis is an enthralling proposition, while former middleweight champ Robert Whittaker will debut at 205lb in a sensible test with Nikita Krylov \u2013 and there are well-matched bouts elsewhere on the card, like Brandon Royval vs Lone\u2019er Kavanagh and Cody Garbrandt vs Adrian Yanez.<\/p>\n

Presentation<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s show in Inglwood was mostly slick, which is no surprise given what a great venue the Intuit Dome is, and what smooth operators Netflix tend to be. In the grand scheme of things, Netflix is still new to live sports, but it has useful experience in the boxing realm now \u2013 with Paul having fought Mike Tyson and Anthony Joshua on the platform, of course. <\/p>\n

Furthermore, there was a dependable broadcast crew, with MMA journalist Ariel Helwani<\/a> guiding proceedings. Among others, he was supported by former UFC champ Tyron Woodley on punditry duties, former UFC title challenger Kenny Florian on commentary, and Kody \u201cBig Mo\u201d Mommaerts as the ring announcer \u2013 the best in the game right now<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Paul lent his profile to the show by entering the cage for the post-fight interviews, but he mostly did well not to overshadow the athletes themselves (dealing fairly well with a callout from old boxing foe Perry and potential opponent Ngannou<\/a>). <\/p>\n

The future<\/p>\n

\"SalahdineSalahdine Parnasse stopped Keneth Cross in a breakout showing (Getty)<\/p>\n

One of the lesser-known fighters to be spotlighted was rising talent Salahdine Parnasse, who impressed before the trio of \u2018main-event\u2019 bouts. The 28-year-old\u2019s inclusion showed MVP\u2019s efforts to not just feature former UFC stars, and to potentially build some of their own. <\/p>\n

How much interest does MVP have in building for the future, though? Bidarian has been clear that there probably won\u2019t be more than a few MVP MMA events per year, for the foreseeable future. Still, that means that when they do arise, they\u2019re likely to be big-time shows with the star power to incentivise Netflix to stay involved. <\/p>\n

So no, MVP is unlikely to emerge as a genuine, week-to-week alternative or threat to the UFC<\/a> \u2013\u00a0not any time soon, at least \u2013 but it did make a decent mark on its debut. Hell, UFC boss Dana White<\/a> even timed the announcement of McGregor\u2019s comeback during Ngannou\u2019s walkout, which was surely an attempt to take some shine off of MVP\u2019s show.<\/p>\n

MVP has the UFC\u2019s attention, then, and that of the casual MMA fan. Can it attract the hardcores consistently? Does it want to? That remains to be seen. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":678641,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,36143,146779,1208,786,11013,8944,2623,327104,801,10280,785,2627,17498,8212,588,85,327105,72908,2957],"class_list":["post-678640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-color-image","tag-combat-sport","tag-england","tag-fighting","tag-horizontal","tag-justin-gaethje","tag-las-vegas","tag-lightweight-weight-class","tag-martial-arts","tag-mixed-martial-arts","tag-mma","tag-nevada","tag-paddy-pimblett","tag-photography","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-t-mobile-arena-las-vegas","tag-ultimate-fighting-championship","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=678640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678640\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/678641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=678640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=678640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=678640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}