Ronda Rousey ends her nearly decade-long MMA exile tonight, headlining the first-ever mixed martial arts event broadcast on Netflix against fellow women’s MMA pioneer Gina Carano. The card emanates from the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, with the main card kicking off at 9 p.m. ET.
The featherweight bout is the centerpiece of MVP MMA 1, the inaugural fight card from Jake Paul and Nakisa Bidarian’s Most Valuable Promotions. Both women hit their marks at Friday’s weigh-ins, with Rousey scaling 142 pounds and Carano coming in at 141.4 pounds for the 145-pound contracted weight.
Live Coverage At MMA News
Our partner site MMA News is providing full coverage of MVP MMA 1 throughout Saturday night, including round-by-round results, post-fight reaction, and full analysis from the Intuit Dome. The main card streams live globally on Netflix at 9 p.m. ET, with prelims starting at 5 p.m. ET on the Tudum website.
A Direct Shot At TKO
The fight carries unmistakable subtext for wrestling and MMA fans alike. Rousey has spent her media tour torching TKO Group Holdings, the parent company that now houses both WWE and UFC, while making a clear point to separate her criticism from Dana White personally.
“I would want to make something abundantly clear and that’s that I owe Dana and the Fertittas immensely and I’d be caught dead before you ever heard me say a bad thing about any of them,” Rousey said at Friday’s pre-fight press conference, per MMAWeekly. “But my loyalty is to them and not the company they sold. And I do not owe TKO’s UFC a damn thing.”
Rousey said in March that UFC is “one of the worst places to go” for fighters, pointing to the promotion’s recent $7.7 billion Paramount+ media rights deal alongside what she described as poverty-level pay for many on the roster.
She has specifically targeted UFC chief business officer Hunter Campbell rather than White, telling ESPN she believes White was overruled internally on the original plan to stage the Carano bout under the UFC banner.
The AEW Revolution Cameo
The most pointed shot came on March 15, when Rousey shocked fans by appearing at AEW Revolution to confront Toni Storm and align with her best friend Marina Shafir. In a follow-up vlog on her YouTube channel, Rousey openly called the appearance a “little bit of a f*ck you to the TKO group.”
“I figured it’d be easier to ask for forgiveness instead of permission on this one,” Rousey said. “Like, I’m promoting your show. It’s fine. We didn’t advertise it. It’s not like we boosted the ratings of it, so it should be fine.”
What’s At Stake Beyond The Main Event
MVP’s MMA debut represents the most credible direct challenge to UFC’s promotional model since Bellator’s peak years. Bidarian told Yahoo Sports the company is paying every fighter on Saturday’s card a minimum of $40,000, more than triple UFC’s typical introductory salary of $12,000 to show and $12,000 to win.
The triple main event is stacked beyond the headliner. Nate Diaz meets Mike Perry in a five-round welterweight bout, while former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou returns to MMA against 2018 PFL Heavyweight Tournament winner Philipe Lins. Bidarian has indicated MVP is targeting four to six MMA events per year starting in 2027 if Saturday’s debut delivers.
Rousey enters with a 12-2 professional record, while Carano carries a 7-1 mark into her first fight since losing to Cris Cyborg in 2009. The two pioneers of women’s MMA have been linked in fan debate for nearly two decades.