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Andreas Hale
Multiple Authors
UFC, Bellator, ONE and KSW champions, along with one of the best flyweights in the world, make up the undercard for Most Valuable Promotions’ inaugural MMA event headlined by Ronda Rousey facing Gina Carano, ESPN confirmed Tuesday.
Former UFC heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos will return to MMA for the first time since 2022 and square off with the current Karate Combat heavyweight champion Robelis Despaigne.
Dos Santos-Despaigne is one of eight additional fights will join Rousey-Carano, Francis Ngannou-Phillipe Lins and Nate Diaz-Mike Perry at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles on May 16.
“I’m so excited to be fighting again. Fighting is my greatest motivation, the type of challenge that feeds my soul,” Dos Santos said in a statement. “MVP is the type of promotion the fighting world was needing. The possibilities with them are endless, and that inspires the fighters to give the fans what they are wanting to see. As always Brazil and all JDS fans around the world will be well represented on Saturday, May 16th live on Netflix. I can’t wait for it. Let’s go.”
Dos Santos won the UFC heavyweight title in 2011 by beating Cain Velasquez and made one successful title defense before dropping it to Velasquez a year later. The Brazilian was a mainstay in the UFC heavyweight rankings with wins over Stipe Miocic, Derrick Lewis and Tai Tuivasa until he suffered a five-fight losing streak and released in 2021. Dos Santos has gone 2-0 in Jorge Masvidal’s Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA since being released.
Despaigne signed with the UFC in December 2023 and went 1-2 before being released in 2024. He signed with Karate Combat shortly after and has gone 7-0 with six knockout wins and captured the promotion’s heavyweight title in December.
The high-powered card will also feature former Bellator welterweight champion Jason Jackson in action against Lorenz Larkin, KSW lightweight champion Salahdine Parnasse squaring off with Kenneth Cross and undefeated flyweight Muhammad Mokaev taking on three-time ONE flyweight world champion Adriano Moraes.
“This card delivers on MVP’s ethos of building the biggest and most global events in combat sports that are mainstream must-sees while giving hardcore fans fights to feast on,” Nakisa Bidarian and Jake Paul, co-founders of MVP, said in a statement. “‘Cigano’ is a former UFC Heavyweight Champion and a Brazilian icon, Salahdine Parnasse is France’s brightest MMA star, Mokaev is one of the best in the sport and Larkin vs Jackson is everything you want in a matchup. Alongside other exciting fighters from around the world, these fights make the card even bigger and reflect the true global scale of the sport.”
Jackson competed from 2019 to 2025 in Bellator and PFL, where he won the welterweight crown by knocking out Yaroslav Amosov in 2023. He’ll face seasoned veteran Larkin in a welterweight showdown. Larkin fought in the UFC, Bellator, Strikeforce and PFL but hasn’t had a pro MMA bout since September 2024.
Dagestan’s Mokaev (16-0) has been on a remarkable unbeaten run and appeared to be closing in on a UFC flyweight title opportunity but was surprisingly released by the UFC in July 2024 despite being 13-0 at the time. Since being released, Mokaev has gone 3-0 outside of the organization while also picking up a knockout win in Karate Combat. He’ll look to keep his unbeaten streak intact against Moraes, who famously knocked out Demetrious Johnson in defense of his ONE flyweight title in 2021.
Moraes, the inaugural ONE flyweight champion, would go on to lose his next two fights with Johnson and left the promotion in 2025 after losing to Yuya Wakamatsu in his attempt to become a four-time flyweight champ.
Rounding out the rest of the undercard is Aline Pereira, younger sister of two-division UFC champion Alex Pereira, who will face Jade Masson-Wong in a 130-pound catchweight bout, Namo Fazil taking on Jake Babian in a welterweight fight, David Mgoyan meeting Albert Morales in featherweight action and Nate Diaz’s training parter Chris Avila’s return to MMA against an opponent to be determined.
“We are continuing to prove that MVP and Netflix can create blockbuster live experiences that bring together fans and fighters from everywhere to create the biggest nights in sport,” Bidarian and Paul said. “This is what we do.”