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These three bouts, we\u2019re told, will be headliners in their own right \u2014 a triple-header, which typically isn\u2019t a thing in fight sports \u2014 at MVP\u2019s May 16 event in Los Angeles. None of these fights is anything you\u2019d call necessary or even all that relevant in the broader landscape of MMA in the year 2026. All of them come with an obvious drawing power that will get butts in seats and eyes on screens when the night arrives \u2014 and together they demonstrate an understanding of what\u2019s actually possible and maybe even marketable in the sport outside the UFC right now.<\/p>\n
You\u2019re not going to make your way as an MMA competitor claiming you have the best fighting the best. Not in MMA, where most of the best are currently locked down in UFC contracts (whether they\u2019re happy with those deals or not). Even if you did have the best, it\u2019s at least debatable whether that\u2019s what audiences want, at least from one of these Netflix one-off events.<\/p>\n
The good news is there is still room to operate in this sport. That’s because, now more than ever, MMA fans long to be entertained. The UFC offers rankings and endless fight-night content and technically sound mixed martial arts. But, god help us, we still want more of a show. And lately we haven’t been getting it from the MMA leader.<\/p>\n
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Yep, Nate Diaz is still a draw. (Photo by Chris Unger\/Zuffa LLC)<\/p>\n
(Chris Unger via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Enter MVP and Netflix, which understand the hearts and minds of the hoi polloi. Know how many people showed up to watch Terence Crawford fight Canelo Alvarez on Netflix? Around 41 million, according to reports. Know how many watched Jake Paul and Mike Tyson do some fight-adjacent posturing with boxing gloves covering their fists? About 60 million.<\/p>\n
One of those was an entirely legit and utterly amazing display of the sweet science between two of the best boxers walking the planet. The other was a glorified exhibition between boxing\u2019s most shameless self-promoter and the living ghost of a former heavyweight champ.<\/p>\n
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The viewers rewarded style over substance and hype over rankings \u2014 and it wasn\u2019t a particularly close contest.<\/p>\n
So of course, when adding to this MVP MMA card, you\u2019d reach for something that\u2019s more sizzle than steak. Diaz and Perry bring that. The latter has been building a bloody, bare-fisted brand of fame over in BKFC, resulting in a small but dedicated audience that won\u2019t hesitate to follow him to Netflix. The former somehow went from man to myth mostly by not fighting, thanks to a shockingly resilient aura that\u2019s made the fight-fan heart grow fonder through absence.<\/p>\n
Diaz vs. Perry is one of those fights that doesn\u2019t have to be about anything. It doesn\u2019t even matter who wins. It only matters that they flex and talk and bleed in roughly equal measure. It\u2019s like you\u2019re sitting on a barstool when someone tells you that the two wildest, least civilized dudes in the place are about to settle some business between them out in the parking lot. Are you really going to decide that you\u2019d rather sit there and finish your Miller Lite and stare at your phone in peace?<\/p>\n
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Each of these fights has a different thing going for it. With Rousey and Carano you\u2019ve got two pioneers of women\u2019s MMA, from two different eras, bringing genuine superstardom and Hollywood-level name recognition into a feel-good fight between respectful peers. With Ngannou and Lins you have the lineal heavyweight champ, a man with an incredible personal story, a person who continues to evoke strong feelings for and against, now taking on \u2026 a guy who was available.<\/p>\n
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With Diaz and Perry you have pure attitude. A couple of certified bad-asses who seem to be taking time off from slapping nightclub patrons and picking fights with bar bouncers to squabble it up with each other. You know they\u2019ll talk a good game beforehand and might even still have enough left in the tank to sling some decent leather when the time comes. Mostly, though, you know you\u2019ll be entertained.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the whole ballgame for MVP on Netflix. Trying to put on the best possible displays of unarmed combat is not the goal. Other people have already staked out that territory, and anyway it doesn\u2019t draw 60 million viewers even when you do it extremely well. Netflix is not trying to hit any singles with these fight-sports ventures. It\u2019s nothing but home run swings, even when that means risking a mighty whiff.<\/p>\n
The goal here is big, loud fight-sports shows that are possibly dumb but absolutely unmissable. And, you have to admit, so far the lineup looks primed to deliver exactly that \u2014 and probably not a whole lot else.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Well, it\u2019s happening. Through a series of gestures, none of them particularly subtle, MVP\u2019s MMA debut on Netflix…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":540676,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,48848,641,25249,146728,22332,706,638,64389,24584,1316,211114,1867,82,640],"class_list":["post-541167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-chris-unger","tag-fighting","tag-francis-ngannou","tag-gina-carano","tag-mike-perry","tag-mike-tyson","tag-mma","tag-mvp","tag-nate-diaz","tag-netflix","tag-philipe-lins","tag-ronda-rousey","tag-sports","tag-ufc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=541167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/540676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=541167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=541167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=541167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}