Jake Paul's New MMA Promotion Strikes Early Blow vs. UFC with Ronda Rousey-Gina Carano Supercard

Ronda Rousey's long-anticipated return to MMA was over as quickly as it began, and may have left some fight fans a little disappointed. The fight card for her comeback, however, may just signal the beginning of a serious power struggle with the UFC. 

Rousey's return fight, her first since a brutal 2016 loss to Amanda Nunes, headlined the first-ever MMA card on Netflix, with the promotional backing of Jake Paul's Most Valuable Promotions (MVP). The former UFC champ's opponent was fellow women's MMA trailblazer Gina Carano, who had not fought in even longer—since 2009, to be exact.

As many fans and pundits predicted, it was not remotely competitive, as Rousey needed l17 seconds to win by armbar.

\It would be fair to call the fight anticlimactic, at the very least, and any grumbling about the one-sided nature of the outcome is totally justifiable. 

However, Saturday's card on Netflix was far more than just the Ronda Rousey show.

In the co-main event, bare-knuckle star Mike Perry picked up a stoppage win over fellow fan favorite Nate Diaz in a fight that was every bit as violent as expected.

Just before that, former UFC heavyweight champ Francis Ngannou—still the division's lineal king—made his own return from a long layoff with a vintage one-hitter-quitter against well-versed Brazilian Philipe Lins.

The main card also featured a memorable win from world-class prospect Saladhine Parnasse, who knocked out Kenneth Cross, and gigantic heavyweight Robelis Despaigne, who did away with former UFC champ Junior dos Santos. The undercard, finally, featured a dramatic, last-second submission win from former ONE champ Adriano Moraes, and impressive performances from several other prospects. 

Most of the big moments from the event were interesting enough to warrant their own post-fight column. However, the event is better viewed as a whole. From beginning to end, it was extremely entertaining, and thanks to Netflix's massive budget and experience with huge boxing broadcasts, it went off without a hitch. 

Most fans will be talking about it for weeks. Many fighters, meanwhile, are likely just as excited as the Netflix show opens up new and lucrative opportunities to make money. The only people who are probably not celebrating in the immediate aftermath of the event are those in the UFC offices in Las Vegas.

The UFC also had a card on Saturday night, but you wouldn't know it. The main event, which saw featherweight veteran Arnold Allen defeat Melquizael Costa by decision, was so overshadowed by the Netflix show that it was hardly even mentioned on social media.

Even the UFC's concurrent announcement that MMA mega-star Conor McGregor will return to action against Max Holloway at UFC 329 this July seemed to fall by the wayside.

The fights on Netflix were simply that distracting. They turned the UFC into an afterthought. 

Of course, it bears mentioning that the UFC clearly didn't make much effort to compete with Rousey, Carano and Netflix. It's also worth noting that the UFC is a well-established brand, with some major events on the horizon, including McGregor's comeback and the much-discussed June 14 show on the White House lawn. As of Saturday, UFC brass are probably telling themselves everything went as expected, and that brighter days are ahead. That's probably true.

That said, if Paul, Netflix and their well-funded team intend to keep promoting MMA, the UFC definitely has reason for pause. 

And that seems to be the case. 

"You will definitely see more," Paul said when emcee Ariel Helwani asked if he would continue promoting MMA. "MVP is just getting warmed up in MMA."

Skeptics will point to the fact that Rousey, the real driver of the interest in Saturday's card is clearly done fighting for good after her quick win over Carano. 

"There's no way [my career] could have ended it better than this," she told Helwani moments after her victory. 

Clearly, Netflix and MMA will not be able to lean on her going forward. The truth, though, is that they don't really need her.

Ngannou, who looked as fearsome as ever earlier on the card, is still a marquee attraction and will continue to generate big buzz anytime he fights—particularly if he gets a more credible opponent, such as main card winner Despaigne. Perry and Diaz, similarly, have tons of mainstream cache themselves. While none of the men mentioned above can generate quite the same buzz as Rousey, they can absolutely capture fight fans' imaginations if they're booked for the same card, like they were on Saturday. 

The truth is Saturday's show on Netflix was expertly booked. Of course, the event relied heavily on names like Rousey, Ngannou, and Diaz, but the promoters also booked an undercard that even the most diehard fans could appreciate, cleverly seeking out veterans like Parnasse and decorated champs like Moraes, who famously holds a KO win over MMA legend Demetrious "Mighty Mouse" Johnson.

If they continue to book events in this way, with the appetites of both mainstream and hardcore fans in mind, they will continue to generate huge interest, particularly if they continue to broadcast on Netflix, which seems to be a given. 

The timing of all this is difficult to ignore. At the same time that MVP is celebrating its big debut in the sport, the UFC is struggling to maintain interest among its long-term fans. Events like Saturday's Allen vs. Costa card in Vegas routinely fall by the wayside, even when they have no meaningful competition, and are constantly criticized by fans.

Even the upcoming event at the White House, which has been advertised—not kidding—as the biggest event in sports history, is falling flat. There's no question it's a stacked card, and the setting makes it a very unique event, but it objectively doesn't live up to many past UFC cards that were not intended to be as big, such as UFC 300 in 2024, and UFC 205 in 2016—the promotion's debut in NYC. The simple truth is that the UFC seems to be making less effort than they once did, and fans are noticing. If this trend continues, and Paul and his collaborators continue to deliver quality fights on Netflix, we could witness a changing of the guard at the top of the sport. It will take time, to be sure, but it's definitely possible.

Paul, for his part, is clearly ready for a fight. 

"Dana White, all you [at the UFC], be prepared because this is the takeover," he said after Saturday's card wrapped up.