Jake Paul issues statement as Ronda Rousey vs Gina Carano Netflix event shatters UFC viewership record

Most Valuable Promotions’ (MVP) first MMA card on Netflix was the most-viewed MMA event in US history, according to the promotion.

Ronda Rousey submitted fellow women’s fighting trailblazer Gina Carano in the main event of MVP MMA 1 and former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou also made a successful return.

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The show at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, was promoted by Jake Paul and Nakisa Bidarian’s MVP and billed as a triple-main card, with Mike Perry getting the better of Nate Diaz in a bloody war high up the card, too.

Rousey vs Carano viewership revealed

In the build-up to MVP MMA 1, Rousey expressed her desire to surpass 9million viewers on Netflix and break the longstanding UFC viewership record.

Well, a statement from MVP on Tuesday has revealed that Rousey’s wishes were granted as over 12.4million viewers tuned in live on Netflix, with a peak viewership of almost 17million during her win over Carano.

In the US, the triple-main card averaged 9.3million viewers and peaked at 11.6million viewers during the main event.

This makes Rousey vs Carano the most-watched MMA event of all time in the US, succeeding the 8.8million UFC record set by Junior dos Santos vs Cain Velasquez in 2011.

Dos Santos, who, incredibly, was also one half of the first MMA fight on Netflix this past weekend, knocked out Velasquez in just 64 seconds in the headliner of the UFC’s debut on Fox.

Paul and Bidarian’s statement added: “The event also generated over 410 million impressions across MVP’s owned social channels, a live gate exceeding $2.2 million, and saw terrific commercial premises distribution across bars, restaurants, casinos, and hospitality venues nationwide.

“We’re incredibly proud of what was accomplished alongside our partners at Netflix and grateful to the athletes who helped make MVP MMA’s debut such a success.

“We’ve received an overwhelming amount of interest from investors, strategic partners, and fighters who want to be involved with MVP and the future of MVP MMA.

“We are currently reviewing all strategic options to do something very meaningful within MMA on a go-forward basis with a distribution partner like Netflix that shares our vision to create lasting impact.” 

Netflix continues to shine

Global viewership of Netflix's major combat sports events

1. Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson (November 2024): 108million
2. Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford (September 2025): 41.4million
3. Jake Paul vs. Anthony Joshua (December 2025): 33million
4. Ronda Rousey vs Gina Carano (May 2026): 17million
5. Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano (July 2025): 6 million

Paul followed up with a social media post that concluded: “Congrats to Ronda and Gina, and every single fighter, person and partner involved.

“MVP + Netflix is an unstoppable force.”

Rousey vs Carano marked the first time Netflix entered the MMA world, having previously broadcast only boxing events in the combat sports world.

Paul has been at the epicentre of most of these shows, fighting both Mike Tyson and Anthony Joshua on the streaming platform in the last two years.

Netflix reported that Paul’s loss to Joshua, during which he suffered a double broken jaw, drew an average minute audience of 33million globally.

Meanwhile, Paul vs Tyson peaked at 65 million concurrent streams worldwide, making it the most-streamed sporting event of all time.

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How does the future look?

The biggest question following MVP MMA 1 is where the promotion will go from here.

While Rousey has insisted that her meeting with Carano was a one-and-done, she is expected to take on promotional duties for MVP moving forward.

If she doesn’t fight again, MVP will have to rely on their big stars Ngannou, Perry, Diaz, etc., and prospects like Salahdine Parnasse in the future.

“The long-term strategy is whatever we want to make it,” Paul told reporters after Rousey vs Carano.

“We’re visionaries, we execute, we put in the time, we put fighters first and we’re here to disrupt. That’s what we’ve been doing in the combat sports world.

“We did it in boxing and tonight is an example of what we’re going to be doing in MMA moving forward.”

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Ngannou flattened Philipe Lins in one round on his MVP debut and flirted with the idea of fighting fellow heavyweight great Jon Jones, who was in attendance and currently looking to get out of his UFC contract.

With the help of Netflix, MVP now have the power to make matchups like these and more that the UFC have failed to put together over the years.

The UFC will now see MVP as a legitimate threat and recognised this by announcing Conor McGregor’s return to the promotion just as Ngannou was making his walk to fight Lins.

Dana White‘s promotion could very well challenge the new record set by Rousey vs Carano through the UFC White House card in June.