UFC did its best to steal the thunder from
Most Valuable Promotions on Saturday night.
As Francis
Ngannou was making his walk to the cage at the Intuit Dome in
Los Angeles on Saturday night, UFC CEO Dana White went live to
announce that Conor
McGregor would return to face Max
Holloway in the UFC 329
headliner. The timing wasn’t surprising to those in the MMA
community, many of whom predicted that the UFC would do something
along those lines to take away from the
Most Valuable Promotions “Rousey vs. Carano” card.
Ronda
Rousey gave her thoughts on the UFC’s decision to announce the
McGregor fight when it did during Saturday’s MVP post-fight press
conference. Rousey defeated Gina Carano
with an armbar 17 seconds into the opening round of the MVP main
event on Saturday at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles.
“I mean, it’s kind of catty,” Rousey said. “But it also shows that
they see MVP MMA as a threat, that they would, you know, do it in
that moment and do it at that time. So I feel like it’s also a
compliment because it elevates MVP MMA – they’re declaring that
they see us as a real rival. And I think that’s such a compelling
story. And now they’re helping us tell it.”
By most accounts, MVP’s MMA debut was a success in terms of drawing
interest, and it certainly didn’t hurt that the organization was
backed by Netflix as its broadcast platform. The UFC’s own offering
on Saturday, a Fight Night card headlined by Arnold
Allen and Melquizael
Costa, didn’t draw nearly that level of attention. And the UFC
typically saves its major announcements for numbered events.
Though the matchmaking may have invited some scrutiny, stars like
Rousey, Carano, Nate Diaz,
Mike
Perry and Ngannou gave MVP drawing power for its first MMA
event. While the future of the promotion when it comes to MMA
remains uncertain, co-founder Jake Paul
wasn’t fazed by UFC’s attempt at counterprogramming.
“Oh, the cokehead is back,” Paul said. “That’s cool, bro. Drop it
during our event. It doesn’t matter. That just shows how pressed
they are – little, insecure boys trying to piggyback off their
event and try to put some news over top of us. It’s not going to
work, buddy.”
Future Business Partners?
Meanwhile, MVP co-founder Nakisa Bidarian was pleased to learn of
McGregor’s return — in part because he’d like to see Paul face the
Irish star sometime down the road.
“He’s one of the most engaging characters in the sport,” Bidarian
said. “I think it’s good for the sport. I’ve said this numerous
times, the biggest fight outside of Paul-[Mike] Tyson that can
happen globally is Paul-McGregor.
“Hopefully Conor is back and hopefully these two run it in boxing
and MMA and we shatter records all over again. So welcome back,
Conor and thank you Dana for bringing him back during the Francis
Ngannou walkout.”