Rousey vs. Carano leads historic MMA card with 17 million viewers
The fight between Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano ended in just 17 seconds and marked peak viewership for a card broadcast on Netflix
Most Valuable Promotions' (MVP) foray into mixed martial arts left unprecedented numbers in its first major event, held on May 16 at the Intuit Dome. The billboard broadcast live on Netflix brought together millions of viewers around the world and, according to its organizers, far exceeded the expectations set for the launch of this new stage of the company founded by Jake Paul and Nakisa Bidarian.
The stellar fight between Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano lasted just 17 seconds. Rousey won by submission with an arm lock, a result that coincided with the broadcast's peak audience: almost 17 million viewers connected simultaneously globally.
According to data cited by promoters, the main tripleheader recorded an estimated average audience of 12.4 million live viewers plus immediate subsequent views. In the United States alone, the average reached 9.3 million, with a peak of 11.6 million during the main fight, a figure that, according to MVP, makes the show the most watched MMA event in the history of the country.
High impact billboard and business expansion
The day included two other notable fights. Mike Perry defeated Nate Diaz by technical knockout after the referee stopped the fight before the third round. Earlier, Francis Ngannou defeated Brazilian Philipe Lins by knockout in the first round.
The event also generated a strong digital impact. The organizers assured that the show produced more than 410 million impressions on MVP's own channels, while the fight between Rousey and Carano added 1 billion impressions on Netflix's global networks.
On the social network X, the hashtag #RouseyCarano remained the number one trend in the United States throughout the evening. It also appeared among the most talked about topics in countries like Brazil and the United Kingdom.
In a joint statement, Bidarian and Paul highlighted the scope of the show: “MVP's first foray into MMA was delivered on a massive global scale and exceeded every expectation we had for the launch of this new chapter of our business.”
They also added: “We have received an overwhelming amount of interest from investors, strategic partners and fighters who want to get involved with MVP and the future of MVP MMA.”
The feature was the fourth collaboration between Netflix and MVP, following other events starring Jake Paul, and was produced by Most Valuable Promotions alongside EverWonder. The platform has already announced that it will continue to support live sports broadcasts, with upcoming events from the NFL, WWE Raw and MLB.