Ronda Rousey vs Gina Carano officially the most watched MMA fight event in U.S. history
It appears as if Ronda Rousey was correct. The former UFC women’s bantamweight champion predicted that her fight against Gina Carano on May 16 would be the most watched MMA fight in history.
And it is now official.
Jake Pauls’ Most Valuable Promotions’ first MMA event was broadcast live on Netflix and headlined by Rousey vs. Carano along with two supporting main event bouts that included Nate Diaz vs. Mike Perry, and Francis Ngannou vs. Philipe Lins.
According to the promotion, there were 12.4 million live viewers globally, peaking at 17 million during the Rousey vs. Carano main event. In the United States, the event averaged 9.3 million viewers with an 11.6 million peak during the main event, giving MVP MMA the new U.S. record for most-viewed MMA event. The previous record holder in the U.S. was 8.8 million views when Junior dos Santos and Cain Velasquez drew for the UFC’s debut on FOX in 2011.
“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,” Nakisa Bidarian, MVP co-founder said in the press release. “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.”
The event also drew a $2.2 million live gate and generated one billion impressions across Netflix’s global social channels.
