MVP co-founder Nakisa Bidarian said the entire idea of MVP venturing into MMA revolved around one name: Ronda Rousey.And Saturday night at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif., Rousey proved her name still carries enough weight to anchor an entire fight card on spectacle alone. In her 17-second submission of Gina Carano — by armbar, of course — Rousey didn’t just notch her first win since 2015; she helped open a debate about whether mixed martial arts would see its first serious promotional competition in decades.Yes, Rousey is Rousey largely because of the UFC platform she rose to prominence within during the 2010s. Also, her Saturday night opponent was a 44-year-old who hadn’t fought an MMA bout since 2009. And as for the future, Rousey said after the win that she was done with the sport for good.“There is no way I could’ve ended it better than this,” Rousey said. “I want to have some more babies, and I gotta get cooking.”

“There’s no way I could’ve ended it better than this. I want to make some more babies.”

That’s all for Ronda Rousey in MMA.

Legend 🐐 #RouseyCarano pic.twitter.com/IV56ehLPpp

— Netflix Sports (@netflixsports) May 17, 2026But for the present, Saturday proved again that this era of combat sports is far more about name and star power than prestige and skill set, at least when it comes to getting eyeballs.Bidarian and Jake Paul didn’t have MMA in their sights when they founded MVP in 2021. The promotion was built to be fighter-first, a phrase Bidarian repeated four times in a conversation with The Athletic on Monday, and for years those fighters were solely boxers, including Paul muscling into the sport with his fame as an influencer.Then Rousey approached.“It was really Ronda who came to me with the idea and said, ‘What do you think?’” Bidarian said. “And I instantly recognized what a massive, massive moment this was gonna be for sports, not just MMA.“Ronda very early on was very passionate about, ‘I want to build with you. I want to be your Dana White.’ And I said to Ronda, ‘I’m not (former UFC CEO) Lorenzo Fertitta. I can’t walk a mile in his shoes, but Jake and I are disruptors. And what you’re talking about is disruptive. And while we’ll never replicate or replace the UFC in the next few years, we certainly can provide a product and a platform for athletes that’s unique, interesting and fighter-first.’”The UFC was never far from the buzz surrounding MVP’s MMA venture, especially after White announced on Instagram Live in the middle of Saturday’s event that megastar Conor McGregor, whose rise mirrored Rousey’s, would return to the sport this July.Like a UFC card, MVP’s marquee night was filled with predictions, bloody action and immediate questions about what might come next. Jon Jones, the former UFC champion who has clearly fallen out with the promotion, openly mused about getting out of his contract, perhaps with help from Netflix, to fight Francis Ngannou. Unlike most UFC fights, there were large patches of empty seats and no clear progression for which events or bouts might come next.“MVP is here to get fighters paid more,” Paul said after Ngannou’s win, “and to give them another platform that gets more views than the UFC.”One of the first immediate questions early next week will be the viewership of this event on Netflix, which has well over 300 million subscribers worldwide and has aggressively chased live sporting events in recent years. The UFC, meanwhile, has put on underwhelming events in its first year of a deal with Paramount+, which has about 80 million subscribers. The promotion’s Freedom 250 spectacle planned for June 14, however, was only possible because of White’s friendship with President Donald Trump. Just last week, the UFC CEO said the event — a card on the South Lawn of the White House — is the most important one in the company’s history.Also last week, after a card in New Jersey, White declined to temper expectations about the MVP event and rather praised Rousey and Carano. Saturday night, Paul positioned himself as more of a direct foil for the powerful UFC.“White House, Dana White, all of you be prepared because this is the takeover,” he said.Before Rousey can figure out whether she can or wants to follow up on her chatter about becoming MVP’s Dana White, she first had to be MVP’s Ronda Rousey. On that goal, she delivered easily. Fans on Saturday night saw the Rousey who steamrolled her first 12 MMA opponents between 2011 and 2015, rather than the one who was brutally outclassed by Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes.The Rousey who armbarred Cat Zingano in 14 seconds and knocked out Bethe Correia in 34 seconds was the Rousey whose name drew some of the largest audiences in MMA history. And after 10 years away from the sport (with a career twist into staged professional wrestling and a life twist into motherhood in between), Rousey needed less than a minute to have that same audience harkening back to her glory days of the early 2010s.After all, that’s the currency of combat sports: moments. And then, after that, moments that give you reminders of those earlier moments. As with Mike Tyson returning at 59 to box Paul, or Brock Lesnar’s dramatic return at UFC 200, the sight of an icon back in the arena where they were first embraced is all it takes for the nostalgia to flow.That Rousey’s hand was raised in victory was just the cherry on top.Aside from the result, much of the same can be said for Carano. Before the Rousey era, Carano was a trailblazer who helped put women’s MMA on the map with her undefeated reign at EliteXC and then her battle with Cris Cyborg for the inaugural Strikeforce women’s featherweight championship.Gina Carano proved an MMA name could star in Hollywood, too. “Getting in the cage was a victory,” she said Saturday. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Imagn Images)Saturday night, she very much looked like a 44-year-old who has spent far more time acting than training for mixed martial arts over the past decade. And yet again, the opportunity gave fans a chance to reminisce on her 2005 days as the woman who proved an MMA name could star in Hollywood, too.“Getting in the cage was a victory. Getting here after 17 years was a victory,” Carano said after the bout. “This was a victory in my life; she changed it. I woke up every morning at 3 a.m. thinking about her. I took 100 pounds off my body, which is going to give me a longer life. There are so many good things to think about here.”Nostalgia was littered throughout the main card. Ngannou, whose years of inactivity left a layer of dust on his legendary resume, returned to the cage and added another first-round knockout to his highlight tape. It was his eighth straight win but just his second since 2022.“If somebody doesn’t remember who I am, they must have amnesia or something,” Ngannou said after the win, adding that he hoped to fight Jones before they both retire.In the co-main event, fan favorite Nate Diaz battled Mike Perry, of bare-knuckle boxing fame, in a two-round banger filled with far more blood than any display of the jiu-jitsu that propelled Diaz to stardom. It ended with Diaz’s corner not allowing the blood-soaked Diaz to continue the fight after he spent the previous 10 minutes absorbing countless knees, elbows and punches from the far superior Perry.As for what comes next?Paul told reporters he would like to stage a rematch of Diaz-Perry, perhaps in Sacramento, Calif., near Diaz’s hometown of Stockton. It was another idea on a night filled with thoughts and opinions, like Paul’s consideration of boxing Ngannou and his opinions on fighter pay, Jones, the UFC and a few other scattered bouts across boxing and mixed martial arts.Will any of it stick? According to Bidarian, that depends on what Saturday night’s numbers say about his and Paul’s most recent attempt at disruption.“Listen, we feel very great about the financial position we’re in, right? So that part is covered,” Bidarian said before the event. “I think it’s just about the viewership and seeing how fans engage with the product.”