Stiff Competition: How MVP Promotions Could Be a Real UFC Competitor
The UFC has seemed like a monolith in the MMA world for a while now. The competition just doesn’t seem to be able to draw fans in on the level the UFC does. One championship operates primarily in Asia and puts a great amount of focus on its Muay Thai and kickboxing divisions, while American competitors like PFL and Bellator, even after merging, seem unable to garner remotely comparable viewership. The days when UFC was in a neck-and-neck race with Pride, or when Strikeforce or the WEC had legitimate claims that theirs were the best fighters on earth, are over. UFC has become so ubiquitous that some people conflate the sport of MMA with the organization, the UFC.
The upcoming MVP promotions event represents a big challenge to this. Ronda Rousey, Francis Ngannou, and Nate Diaz are all well-known, and Rousey specifically was at one point the most popular MMA athlete on the planet, even having a major role in one of the Fast and Furious movies. The big name value is there, but all the bones of a good MMA event are, too. The fight is airing on Netflix and is free, making it incredibly accessible. With over 300 million people signed up, Netflix is the world’s most popular streaming service, and that keeps the barrier to entry to watching the event very low.
The undercard is plainly stacked. It’s loaded with UFC veterans like Junior Dos Santos, Lorenz Larkin, and Mohammed Mokaev. Mokaev, who was released after a victory over Manel Kape, is undefeated and has a real claim to being the best flyweight on earth right now. He squares off against Adriano Moraes, who became the first man in a long, long time to beat the arguably GOAT Demetrius Johnson a few years ago. Also on the card are elite fighters from outside the UFC, like Saladhine Parnasse, who’s a belt holder in European promotion KSW, and Jason Jackson, who was a belt holder in Bellator. More than just relying on name value, MVP promotions are putting on a card where the matchups feel as though they have real stakes for the MMA world. Competition breeds success. It’s hard to compete with a company that has ties to the White House, but Netflix is a marquis of relevance. Many fans agree that the MMA world is at its best when there are two major organizations, and MVP is paving the way for a new era of competition for the UFC.
