When Ronda Rousey stepped into the cage for the first time in nearly a decade on Saturday night to face fellow mixed martial arts pioneer Gina Carano, the contest ended almost as soon as it began. In a flash, Rousey locked Carano in her signature armbar, forcing a tapout after just 17 seconds.
"I didn't really want to hurt her," Rousey said after her victory. "It was beautiful martial arts, that's what I think that was. It was art."
While the fight was jarringly anticlimactic, it headlined a highly anticipated card that also featured former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, who scored a lopsided first-round knockout in his return to MMA after a stint in boxing, and Nate Diaz, who was stopped at the end of the second round by Mike Perry.
A Spectacle of Missed Opportunities
The event marked MMA's debut on Netflix and was the first promoted by Most Valuable Promotions (MVP), the company co-founded by Jake Paul. MVP's primary focus has been boxing, best known for co-promoting the Amanda Serrano vs Katie Taylor trilogy and Paul's fights against Mike Tyson and Anthony Joshua.
Nakisa Bridarian, Paul's partner and advisor, claimed the Rousey vs Carano event was the "most expensive MMA card ever put together." This is partly possible due to Netflix's backing, as the streaming giant has recently shown an appetite for combat sports, hosting five boxing events in the past year, including Canelo Alvarez vs Terence Crawford, and becoming the home of WWE's Monday Night Raw.
However, Netflix's interest does not guarantee heavy investment in MMA. Rousey admitted ahead of the fight that she hoped for more than nine million viewers, which would break the MMA ratings record held by Junior dos Santos and Cain Velasquez on UFC on Fox in 2011. Whether that figure is achieved and convinces Netflix to invest consistently remains uncertain.
Criticism and Future Prospects
The event drew sharp criticism for a lopsided main event featuring two fighters past their prime, with Carano having not competed in 17 years. Rousey, 39, admitted after the bout that "she didn't really want to hurt" Carano, 44, emphasizing the absurdity of the mismatch. Rousey also made clear she has no intention of fighting again, ending MVP's hopes of building future cards around her.
This type of spectacle is typical of MVP, which cornered the influencer boxing market with events like Paul's bouts with Tyson and Joshua. MVP's foray into MMA was a gamble, banking on the idea that the UFC had lost its creative spark. Since Endeavor's purchase in 2016, the UFC has been treated as a scalable media property rather than a fighting organization, reducing it to a content mill for broadcast partners.
Endeavor's strategy reached its peak in August 2025, when the UFC signed a seven-year, $7.7 billion broadcast deal with Paramount. With revenue guaranteed upfront, the UFC's incentive to create blockbuster events diminished, leading to a stream of mediocrity. This opened a void that MVP recognized, staging fights built on personality and legacy.
UFC's Missed Chance
The UFC reportedly had a chance to host Rousey's return but squandered it after the move to Paramount+ eliminated pay-per-view profit as a negotiation tool. "[UFC] didn't want to set a precedent of giving me the guaranteed money that I deserve," Rousey told Jim Rome. "It's in their best interest actually not to put on the best fights possible, but to spend as little money as possible."
Despite Rousey being one of the biggest stars in UFC history, the organization was unwilling to meet her demands, leading her and Carano to take their fight to MVP. Having exposed a void in the MMA market, it remains to be seen whether MVP can offer a more lighthearted alternative to the UFC's tedious brand.
Just as Ngannou was making his entrance on Saturday, the UFC announced that Conor McGregor will return to the Octagon in July, marking his first fight in five years. When asked about this timing, Rousey responded bluntly: "It's kind of catty."
