Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions made its MMA debut on Netflix with an action-packed night in Los Angeles. While Ronda Rousey was the night’s big winner with a vintage 17-second armbar win over Gina Carano, everyone who fought on the event reaped the benefits.
MVP co-founder Nakisa Bidarian announced Saturday night that all fighters who scored finishes in the Intuit Dome secured a bonus payout. Bidarian didn’t disclose exactly how much was earned; he noted earlier in the week that incentives varied per fighter. Speaking on the event’s $40,000 minimum base pay, Bidarian insisted it should be normal at the highest level of the sport, unlike UFC’s $12,000 to fight and $12,000 to win pay model.
“The ’12 and 12′ doesn’t make a lot of sense when you make it to the NBA of combat sports,” Bidarian said at Saturday’s post-fight conference. “I heard [UFC CEO Dana White] do an interview and talk about basketball players having second jobs. There is no NBA player that has a second job. I can guarantee you that unequivocally. Now the same for the WNBA. … $40,000 is supposed to be a reference to the 12/12.
“The reality is, [UFC] can come and crush that. Jake [Paul] put out a tweet four years ago now: ‘Make the minimum $50,000, and I’ll back off.’ They could do that. They should do that. I hope they do that because that’s good for the fighters. Makes it harder for us, right? We’re not capitalized like them. They’re worth $20 billion, $30 billion?”
Now that the first MMA event is in the books for MVP, the promotion has the opportunity to carry that momentum forward and push potential change on the industry.
Among the many stars in attendance Saturday for MVP’s MMA debut was former all-time great UFC champion Jon Jones. The appearance coincided with Jones’ fellow former heavyweight champion, Francis Ngannou, who defeated Philipe Lins via first-round knockout in brutal fashion.
The Netflix broadcast teased the idea of Jones vs. Ngannou finally coming to fruition under the MVP banner. UFC failed to make the mega-fight years back, ultimately leading to Ngannou’s stunning departure from the promotion in 2023. Yet with Jones still restricted by his UFC contract, it’s all but a pipe dream.
“I don’t think it’s very realistic,” Bidarian acknowledged, “because I don’t think Dana is going to allow that to happen in any way, shape, or form, because they know it will be the biggest fight that can happen at the heavyweight division in a very long time.
“I wish it could happen, and I think Jon deserves that moment. I think the sport deserves that moment. If you look at the boxing landscape, co-promotion happens all the time. If you look at the MMA landscape outside of the UFC, co-promotion happens all the time. If you look at the NBA, they go to Europe and play games against European teams, and they go play against Asian teams and Australia. It happens all the time.
“The biggest moment the UFC has had in history was a co-promotion,” Bidarian continued. “It was with [Floyd] Mayweather and [Conor] McGregor. Biggest associated event ever Dana has touched in terms of revenue. So that hopefully is a door, and hopefully is a moment that can happen. We’re more than willing. There’s no hard feelings. There’s no ‘we can’t work with them’ because they take shots at us. Exactly the opposite. Let’s do it and make it a moment the world stops and enjoys these two men at the crescendo of their careers, given their age and wear and tear, particularly Jon. The fans deserve it. The sport deserves it.”
Paul added some color to the depth of Jones’ situation. The former two-division champ asked for his UFC release after failing to get his wish of competing on June’s UFC White House event, and according to Paul, Jones is still bummed out by the situation.
“I just feel bad when Jon Jones can’t get out of his contract to be a free agent to be able to provide for his family,” Paul said. “That’s the real meaning behind these fights and these fighters being tied up and not being able to pick and choose what they want to do, get the pay that they deserve. The fact that he wasn’t on the White House card was very disappointing. He was a true all-American. One of the greatest of all time, and just fell flat.
“I talked to him tonight and he’s upset about it. It just sucks. He can’t control his career, and I’ve just been pushing for fighters to stay free agents to work with people like MVP, where the MMA fighters can go and box. Boxers can go and do MMA. So I’ve been wanting to make Jon Jones vs. Francis Ngannou. But it’s just tough over there, and it sucks for the fighters and for the families, businesses, and legacy. All of it.
“Capital is king,” Paul finished, “so when these fighters can’t make money, and they want to fight, and they want to make the big fights happen, the fans lose and their families lose, and the fighters feel insufficient. So it really sucks, and hopefully we’re here to make some change and make the biggest fights in MMA happen. Period.”