I watched the MVP MMA event on Netflix and it was decent enough. My main issue was that a lot of the matchups felt uneven. Several of the fighters seemed past their prime and clearly mismatched against their opponents, which made for some underwhelming moments throughout the night.
The Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano fight ended in 17 seconds. Ronda caught her in an armbar, which has always been her go-to finish, but it was over so fast it was hard not to feel a little let down. Carano had not fought in 17 years and it showed. You spend all that buildup time and then it is gone before you can process it. I imagine the promoters felt the same way given what they likely spent to put that together. That said, nearly 17 million people tuned in globally for that moment, so clearly the name value was there even if the competitive value was not.
Nate Diaz and Mike Perry had a real scrap though. Neither one of those guys was going to quit and you could see that clearly. It went two rounds before being stopped due to cuts on Diaz, and honestly Nate looked rough out there. He has been in a lot of wars over the years and at some point the wear starts to show. I think he is probably at the stage where stepping away would be the smart move.
Francis Ngannou handled Philipe Lins and that one also felt lopsided, though Ngannou at least looked sharp doing it. Junior Dos Santos was on the card as well and got stopped by Robelis Despaigne in the first round. These are not bad fighters, they are just not where they were at their peaks. A lot of these folks probably came in for a payday and were not necessarily looking to stay active, and that is fine, but it does affect the quality of what you are watching.
I am actually glad this event exists though. I am a UFC fan, but I do not think any single organization having a complete monopoly on the sport is good for fighters or fans. Dana White used to tell Jake Paul that if he did not like how fighters were being paid he should go start his own promotion. To his credit, that is exactly what Jake did. He went out, found partners, built something, and from what fighters are saying it sounds like they were happy with their pay. That is worth acknowledging.
MVP has room to grow. The matchmaking needs work and they need to pull in fighters who are still competitive rather than leaning so heavily on name recognition. There is real talent out there outside of the UFC and I hope they tap into it as they develop. More competition in this sport is a good thing.
Congratulations on putting this event together though. You said you would do it and you did. I respect that. I will say this however, Mauro Ranallo alongside Kenny Florian was a bit much. I am sorry but he tries too hard and that voice is not it. I am sure he does not talk that way in real life and it just comes across as irritating. I had to mute the event for a stretch because it was overwhelming the experience. Get another fighter in the booth who brings it naturally. That part needs work.
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