MVP MMA: Rousey vs Carano - May 16 🇺🇸

[wandshogun09]

Alright, apologies in advance, this is gonna be a loooooong post. There’s a lot to talk about. We’re off to LA. Look who’s back…

NETFLIX MAIN CARD
Ronda Rousey vs Gina Carano 

Nate Diaz vs Mike Perry 

Francis Ngannou vs Philipe Lins

Salahdine Parnasse vs Kenneth Cross

Junior Dos Santos vs Robelis Despaigne 

YOUTUBE PRELIMS 
Namo Fazil vs Jake Babian 

Adriano Moraes vs Phumi Nkuta

Jason Jackson vs Jefferson Creighton 

David Mgoyan vs Albert Morales

Aline Pereira vs Jade Masson-Wong

Chris Avila vs Brandon Jenkins 

 

Seen very mixed reaction to this card. Some seem to be overdoing it with the praise, some are being overly harsh with the criticism, some seem obsessed with comparing it to the White House card. Fuck all that. It’s not the best card ever. It might be a complete shitshow. But even if it turns out to be a one-off and a disaster, we all know we’ll be watching and there’s gonna be plenty to talk about. From what I’m reading, the top three fights there are all scheduled for five rounds. We’re a fight down as well. Sadly, Lorenz Larkin is out. Not sure if Jason Jackson is staying on the card or what. I’ll update this post as we go.

 

 

Ronda Rousey vs Gina Carano is happening then. Five rounds at 145lbs. Seems almost surreal but we live in strange times and money makes strange things happen in combat sports. Rousey is 39 years old now, Carano is 44. Rousey has been out of the cage since December 2016, so almost ten years. Carano last fought in 2009, so she’s been out of action for seventeen years! I’m no mathematician but I believe that’s a combined 27 years out of the game for these two. Madness. The announcement was dropped on us in February and it seemed to come completely out of the blue at the time. But there were signs that Ronda was planning a comeback for a while. I think everyone just assumed that if she did ever fight again, it would be in the UFC. Things took a left turn and here we are.

So yeah, Gina Carano just turned 44 years old in April and she has a MMA record of 7-1 with four finishes. A true pioneer of women’s MMA. When people talk about the women’s side of the sport, Ronda Rousey understandably gets the bulk of the credit for putting it on the map. But Carano predates the Rousey era. And without Carano, who knows how things would’ve gone? You’d assume Rousey was gonna come along anyway but would she have even seen MMA as a viable option or career path if Carano, and a handful of others, hadn’t paved the way?

Carano started her combat sports journey in Muay Thai and racked up a 12-1-1 record in that game. In June 2006, she made her MMA debut for a promotion called World Extreme Fighting against some jabroni called Leticia Pestova. It would be the first ever sanctioned female MMA fight in Nevada. Carano was making history from the jump.

She made short work of Pestova, she needed just 38 seconds to put her away with ground and pound from the mount. From there she stopped UK MMA veteran Rosi Sexton in September and then beat Elaina Maxwell on points on an early Strikeforce card in December. By the end of 2006, Carano was 3-0 in MMA and there were opportunities starting to open up for her.

On February 10th 2007, Carano made more history. She fought Julie Kedzie on the undercard of the Renzo Gracie vs Frank Shamrock fight for EliteXC. This was the first real significant breakthrough for women’s MMA because it was the first time two women would have a fight air on live television.

I remember watching that fight, probably not right at the time, it probably didn’t even air over here. But I definitely saw it at some point not too long after and I’m pretty sure it was the first women’s fight I saw. I remember really enjoying it. No idea how it would hold up now, a lot of it might’ve been the novelty of seeing two women fight MMA. But Kedzie was usually game for a scrap herself so it was probably decent for the time. I guess the important thing is it was good enough, wasn’t it? Good enough to wedge that door a bit more open for other women to get to compete and be featured on cards. It was slow moving. For the longest time, WMMA was seen as a bit of a sideshow ‘attraction’. A one-off women’s fight would appear on a card here and there and that’d be it really. They weren’t exactly building up divisions. It was a novelty thing. Almost like when the WWF would throw Max Mini vs Mini Vader out there in 97. A gimmick. Carano kept at it though. She stayed in EliteXC for her next few fights. Subbed Tonya Evinger in September 2007, TKO’d Kaitlyn Young in May 2008, took a decision off Kelly Kobold in October 2008. The last two were on Kimbo Slice undercards as well, which no doubt would’ve done strong viewing figures for the time and been great exposure for Carano, and by extension, women’s MMA. 

2008 was also significant for a young Ronda Rousey. She was 21 years old at the time, a second generation Judoka who had trained under her mum and also the legendary ‘Judo’ Gene LeBell. In the Summer of 2008 she’d worked her way to the Olympics and took the bronze medal in Judo at the Beijing Games.

By 2009, Carano had caught on big time. Of course, elephant in the room, a lot of it was her looks. To suggest it didn’t play a major role in her popularity would be stupid. You couldn’t move for saucy Carano sigs and avatars on forums at the time. 

This gif especially had the horny, sexless sods in a chokehold back then. But if she wasn’t also winning in the cage, that would’ve only taken her so far. There have been a bunch of hot female MMA fighters over the years who fizzled out fast when it became clear they couldn’t cut it once the fight got rough. Carano wasn’t one of them. She clearly enjoyed the actual act of fighting. She was the perfect poster girl for women’s MMA at the time but I think the feeling was that once she went away, women’s MMA would go with her. Women’s MMA, such as it was, was almost entirely being carried on Carano’s shoulders.

In 2009, Carano went back to Strikeforce and, by this point, Scott Coker had built the promotion into a great alternative to the UFC. They were putting on some fantastic shows in the late 2000s-early 10s. It made sense to bring Carano back into the fold and Coker seemed interested in taking women’s MMA seriously and actually trying to build something. But Carano wasn’t gonna be given a layup. Coker created a title for the fight, a 145lb champion would be crowned, and Carano would be facing Cris Cyborg.

A terrifying woman, then and now. At this time Cyborg was 24 years old and 7-1 in MMA. She’d lost her MMA debut but was wrecking shop ever since. It wasn’t so much who she was beating, it was the way she was doing it. I mean this with no disrespect but she was the first female fighter who came along and fought just like a man. I almost don’t wanna make the Wanderlei Silva comparison because of Dana’s shitty comments that time. But she really did fight like a female Wandy. She’d been doing the EliteXC rounds herself, even competing on the same card as Carano once or twice, and had bashed up Shayna Baszler and Hitomi Akano on the road to the Carano showdown.

In August 2009, it finally went down. And well, so did Carano. She took a beating. I remember the buildup to the fight pretty vividly. It came at such a ridiculously hot period in MMA. Fresh off the heels of the monster UFC 100 card, Brock smashing Mir’s face into hamburger etc, the much publicised UFC and Fedor negotiations and all that stuff. Then we had Carano vs Cyborg. Predictably it was marketed as a bit of a ‘Beauty vs Beast’ thing, which is a bit harsh looking back but it’s the route they took. I’m a bit hazy on the fight itself, I just remember all the buzz around it at the time. Unless I’m overlooking something obvious, it was really the first time a women’s fight got serious hype and attention. Carano actually had some success early in the fight, even mounting Cyborg at one point. But it was fleeting. Cyborg ended up getting back to her feet and just bludgeoning her for the TKO stoppage at 4:59 of the first round.

This image was everywhere. What a fucking picture! Whoever the photographer was, man, they captured the moment perfectly. And with that loss, Carano’s first defeat in MMA, she was done. Gone. Never to be seen in MMA again. Until now. 17 years later. There were rumblings she might come back a few times. Looking back through some stuff, Coker was talking about her fighting again as early as 2010/11. She was actually supposed to fight on a Strikeforce card in June 2011 but it never materialised. Funnily enough, had that fight gone ahead, it would’ve actually been promoted by Zuffa! If you remember, they’d taken over Strikeforce in March 2011. Despite Dana shitting all over women’s MMA back then, they were actually gonna promote a Gina Carano fight a whole year before the Ronda Rousey era began. Wasn’t to be.

By this point, Rousey had made the transition over to MMA herself. From August 2010 to January 2011, she had three amateur bouts, winning all by armbar, all in less than a minute each. In March 2011, she made her pro MMA debut on a King Of The Cage card. She won by armbar in 25 seconds. Next fight in June, yep, armbar in 49 seconds. Didn’t take Scott Coker long at all to notice her and snap her up. In August, she made her Strikeforce debut, subbing Sarah D’Alelio with yet another armbar in 25 seconds. And in November, Julia Budd got the same treatment in 39 seconds. Absolute insanity. If you lived through Ronda’s initial rise in real time, there was nothing quite like it. It was early days but the way she was just bulldozing her way through was pretty wild. By the end of 2011, she was 4-0 in MMA (7-0 with the amateur fights added), 100% by submission, 100% by armbar and not one of them made it past the one minute mark! What the fuck?

This is where it all really took off for Rousey though. She was matched up against Strikeforce Bantamweight champion Miesha Tate in March 2012. At just 4-0 and only a year after her pro debut, Rousey was getting a title shot. Right from the off there was bickering. Tate was very vocal that Rousey hadn’t earned the title shot and Rousey was snapping back at every comment. It became clear very quickly that these two were gonna be rivals. They never got on at all from day one. I remember a fair bit of buzz for this one. Easily the most anticipation I recall for a women’s fight since Carano vs Cyborg three years earlier. This time there was no ‘Beauty vs Beast’ thing though. They were both lookers, they both hated each other and they were gonna fight. That was basically the crux of the whole thing.

Yeah. First round armbar again. At 5-0, Ronda Rousey was the new Bantamweight champ. Doesn’t tell the whole story though. It was a great fight while it lasted. One of my favourite one rounders. They both brought it, Tate managed to test her a little bit more than previous opponents, she dragged her into the fourth minute anyway, but ultimately fell to Ronda’s Judo throw and her finishing move. It was exactly what you wanted from a fight like this. It had everything. The build up and then the fight itself delivered. And they didn’t squash the beef after either. You kind of knew they’d cross paths again down the road.

Like Carano broke down barriers and made history earlier in her career, Rousey was starting to do the same but on a bigger scale. After that Tate fight, Dana White did a complete U-turn on women’s MMA. He’d been 100% negative on women’s fights before, even saying they’d “never” have women fight in the UFC. After Rousey vs Tate though, he changed his tune quick. Rousey fought once more in Strikeforce that August, defending the belt against Sarah Kaufman. Armbar in 54 seconds.

Early 2013. THE biggest breakthrough in women’s MMA history…

For the first time ever, women would compete in the UFC. And not just that, headline a UFC PPV. A groundbreaking moment. Two things I remember vividly about this. Rousey was awarded the UFC women’s Bantamweight title before the fight happened and that had a lot of fans whinging. Bollocks though. She was the reigning, defending 135 champ in Strikeforce and the UFC absorbed that division. It was the same division. They just carried Rousey over as champ and changed her belt from a Strikeforce one to a UFC one. It was no different than when they merged the WEC roster into the UFC and added the Featherweight and Bantamweight divisions. WEC champs Jose Aldo and Dominick Cruz were awarded the 145 and 135 UFC belts coming in. No big deal. The other thing was fans bellyaching that a couple of women were headlining over Machida and Hendo. Like a literal history making title fight with one of the biggest rising stars in the game didn’t deserve to main event. Anyway, Rousey kept the first round armbar streak going, although Carmouche did extend her to 4:49, which was Ronda’s longest fight yet at that point.

Realising what they had in Rousey, the UFC decided to put the full weight of their promotional machine behind her and have her coach the next season of The Ultimate Fighter. She was supposed to coach against Cat Zingano, with the two set to meet for the title at the end of the year. But a knee injury took Zingano out. The UFC called a replacement in and…

It was Ronda’s old pal Miesha! At the time I remember everyone being sad for Zingano but, if we’re being honest, the Rousey vs Tate rivalry was made for a show like TUF. The best seasons were the ones where the coaches detested each other. Nobody really wants to see the coaches respecting each other all season. Throwing Tate in was such a perfect fit that I’m half inclined to believe the UFC hired someone to run up on Zingano and take her knee out, Tonya Harding style, to get her out of the way so they could crack on with Rousey vs Tate 2. 

It was quite a season. One of the very last good ones from what I remember. I stopped watching altogether a couple of TUFs later, I think. Haven’t seen this Rousey vs Tate season in forever but the consensus opinion was that Rousey came off badly on that show. I didn’t really care at the time. She was clearly immature and a bit unhinged but she was wildly entertaining and by this point I’d already became a huge fan of her as a fighter. She was one of the best things to happen to the sport in years. There’s a lot of revisionism when it comes to Rousey now because of how she’s carried herself and things she’s said over the years but, anyone who was balls deep into MMA at the time will remember, there was a real buzz and big fight atmosphere like almost no other fighter had when she fought. Or since. I’ve said it before but her and Conor McGregor coming along at the same time was a real lightning striking twice in the same place thing that I can only compare to Steve Austin and The Rock becoming mega stars around the same time in the WWF in the late 90s.

This cracked me up at the time. I don’t care. It’ll be used now as a ‘look how horrible Ronda was’ thing, it was then by some, and yeah she was a bit of a shithouse. But who cares? Back then she wasn’t doing or saying anything really fucked up like the Sandy Hook comments later on. It was all just standard fighter beef. I clearly remember a load of fans buying into Ronda being ‘gotten to’ by Miesha because of her emotional outbursts on TUF. Miesha was pretty good at winding her up but it was always gonna come down to a fight and I just never saw a way for her to win against Ronda. Regardless, by the time they fought in December 2013, it felt huge. It was co-main under the Chris Weidman vs Anderson Silva rematch at UFC 168, a monster fight in its own right given how the first one ended, yet Rousey vs Tate 2 was being talked about just as much from what I remember. What a one-two main/co-main combo that was for a PPV though, right? Fuck me. The cards that are considered ‘stacked’ these days can’t touch how utterly bonkers the hype was in the run up to a card like that.

Ronda by armbar. Again. This time though, Tate dragged her all the way to the third round! To this day it’s the longest fight she ever had. But same end result. Good fight from what I recall, but not as good as their first one. Ronda got a load of shit for refusing Tate’s offer of a handshake after. But again, I was fine with it. Yeah it’s nice to see fighters end the grudge and shake hands after fights but sometimes it’s actually weirdly refreshing when they don’t. It was clear these two were never gonna get on, what’s the point pretending to make nice when you knew they were gonna immediately start talking shit about each other again a week later? And Miesha knew Ronda wasn’t gonna go for that handshake. Come on son. I always felt like she knew what she was doing there. Just made herself the sympathetic babyface and made Ronda look even more of a heel.

From there, Ronda made a quick turnaround and stopped fellow Olympic medalist Sara McMann in the first round in February 2014. For once though, it wasn’t by armbar! She put McMann down with a knee to the body about a minute into the fight. She followed that up with that absolutely mental 16 second demolition job on Alexis Davis in July. Just ragdolled her with a Judo throw, Davis was out already when she hit the mat and then Ronda punched her head in for the KO. In February 2015, Rousey vs Zingano finally went down. And this is a Rousey win that doesn’t get talked about enough for me but it’s one of the craziest finishing sequences ever.

Look at that shit! Whole fight lasted just 14 seconds. Zingano came out aggressive with the knee and paid for it. Beautiful finish. In August that year, Rousey went to Brazil and defended the title against Bethe Correia. This looks like a weak as fuck title defence with the benefit of hindsight, and it is, but at the time Correia was 9-0 and was coming off a TKO win over Rousey’s buddy and teammate Shayna Baszler. Not to mention, Rousey was rapidly running out of challengers anyway. I remember the buildup getting quite ugly, with Correia telling Rousey that, after she beats her, “don’t commit suicide”. A horrible comment under any circumstances but felt especially vile and low in this case because Rousey’s Dad took his own life when she was a kid. Correia later claimed she never knew about that but I find it really hard to believe. It was well known in MMA circles and was covered pretty widely when Ronda was coming up and her story was being told. In the end, Ronda got her revenge, knocking Correia out in 34 seconds.

This is about when it all got really silly though. The hysteria around Ronda was getting so out of control that there was a fair bit of talk that she could go into Boxing and have similar success. She even appeared on the cover of Ring magazine.

“SHE CONQUERED MMA, IS BOXING NEXT?” - The RING Magazine.

Yeah, probably not mate.

I remember some of the talk about Ronda at this time was absolutely mental. The one that always comes up now is “Remember when people said Ronda would beat Floyd Mayweather in a Boxing match? LOLOLOL”. I think that’s kind of been misremembered though. Maybe there were some fucking idiots who thought that. But my memory of it is that some people were saying they thought she could beat Mayweather under MMA rules. And I don’t give a shit, I would’ve absolutely given her a good chance of beating him in MMA. It’s a pointless argument because it was never, ever, ever, in a million years gonna happen. But it’s not like Floyd was ever some big physical imposing man. He was 5’8” on his best day, in tremendous shape but slender, and most importantly he had zero grappling skills. If you think a woman who was only two inches shorter but had been conditioned to throw bodies around from childhood (to an Olympic medal winning level) couldn’t have overwhelmed him if she got hold of him, you’re deluding yourself. It was never as ridiculous as people made out and smacked of insecure men thinking no woman could ever get the better of a man in any combat situation, just because she’s a woman. The Boxing scenario, yeah, of course she’d get fucking annihilated. Of course she would. Not even up for debate. But when you’re allowing grappling, would Floyd really do any better than me or you if an Olympic medal winning Judoka got hold of him?

All that silliness aside, there were some rumours around 2015 that Gina Carano was considering a comeback and Dana White was talking to her. Made sense. At the height of Rousey’s stardom, with Carano still in her 30s, why wouldn’t she want a piece of that action now there was better money to be made? Carano had paid her dues back when women’s MMA was a sideshow. It almost felt cruel that she was gone by the time the UFC finally got on board, and she missed out on all that. Talks broke down though. Carano talked about this recently. Apparently she went for dinner with Dana and Lorenzo Fertitta and they agreed she’d come back for the Rousey fight. Typical of Dana, he started talking publicly about it before a deal was in place, to put pressure on Carano. She mustn’t have jumped to Dana’s demands fast enough for his liking because she said she got a text off him saying “this bitch is fucking us around”. When she responded saying “I think you sent that to the wrong person”, he texted back “I don’t think I did”. And that was that. She said they never talked for years after that.

The Rousey machine rolled on. And the hyperbole was still in overdrive. I’ll never forget her going on Joe Rogan’s podcast around this time and he literally sat there crying in front of her. Telling her to her face that she’s a “once in a lifetime” fighter while blubbering like an idiot. Awkward as fuck. He was sat there crying like Ronda just discovered the cure for cancer or some shit. It was all a bit weird.

Her next fight was booked for November 2015 in Melbourne, Australia. Just a run of the mill title defence against Holly Holm. No big deal. Business as usual. Well…

End of an era. A short era, but it felt shocking all the same. Maybe it shouldn’t have been though. I admit I didn’t give Holm a chance to win this fight. Just didn’t see it at all. Might be wrong but I seem to remember @Egg Shenbeing the only one on here that I recall giving Holm a good shot to win going in. She was undefeated herself at the time, former Boxing champion etc. But I wasn’t blown away by her first couple of UFC fights and I wrongly assumed that, given her Boxing background, she was strictly a striker and would be lost the second Ronda got her down. Just like every other opponent so far. Just another victim. How wrong I was. 

A lot of people chalked it up to Rousey buying into her own hype too much and getting complacent but I don’t agree. Maybe there was an element of that but I think Holm just got her tactics spot on that night. I’m no fan of Holm but credit where it’s due. When you actually sit and watch that fight, Ronda had her chances just like she did in all her wins. There was a point where they were on the ground and she had Holm’s arm. The difference was Holm had done her homework, prepared and had answers for it. It’s been rewritten now as if ‘as soon as Ronda fought a good striker she was fucked’ but it’s way more than that. I also remember Boxing fans claiming it as a win for Boxing but Holm’s performance was pure MMA. Yeah she gave Ronda fits on the feet. No denying that. But she was able to do that because she shut down the grappling. She made the clinch work difficult and she escaped the armbar attempt that had never failed Ronda before, and I think that was a massive factor that gets overlooked. Ronda was so used to being able to just rely on that bullrush, Judo toss, armbar formula that when Holm had an answer to it, she unraveled spectacularly. Then Holm ended it with a headkick. 

It wasn’t Boxing that beat Rousey. That probably would’ve actually been easier for Rousey to live with because she could’ve narrowed all her problems down to that one hole in her game. The way Holm beat her was with a complete MMA game, something Rousey didn’t have and hadn’t needed to develop because her Plan A always worked up to that point. Holm beat her in such a way that completely headfucked her and exposed how one-note her skill-set really was. Until then, I think Rousey and her team thought she had everything covered. If Holm was just a boxer with no grappling defence, she’d have suffered the same fate as Rousey’s previous opponents. It was a stellar all-around MMA performance. 

Rousey had a well publicised meltdown after that loss. Walking through the airport hiding her face behind a big pillow, went into hiding, stopped giving interviews or doing any media for months. It’s partly understandable for a fighter to go off the grid for a bit after a bad loss. But Ronda had been all over the media when she was winning so it was very noticeable when she just vanished. She talked later about how much she struggled mentally during this time. I think her first public appearance after the loss was when she went on the Ellen DeGeneres show and she broke down and admitted to having suicidal thoughts and all sorts. Was rough to watch. It didn’t help that the forums were full of photoshops of Rousey getting knocked out for weeks on end, if not months, after the fight. That went with the territory back then, no fighter was exempt from the photoshop treatment, no matter how popular they were. But Ronda took it especially hard. At the same time, there were rumours that the UFC were looking at doing a Holm vs Rousey rematch at UFC 200 in July 2016. I’m not sure how much truth there was to that or how far any talks may have gone. But it obviously never happened. Ronda needed more time out and Holm moved on, losing the title to Ronda’s BFF Miesha Tate, before Tate eventually lost it in brutal fashion to Amanda Nunes at UFC 200.

After a whole year on the shelf, it was announced that Rousey would finally be making her Octagon return at UFC 207 in December 2016. And she’d be getting an immediate shot at the title against new champ Nunes.

“SHE’S BACK”.

I’ve talked about this a few times on here over the years but the buildup to this fight was so weird. First off, I get that Rousey was the star out of these two. Despite Nunes being the champion, Ronda was undoubtedly still the A-Side. But that poster always just made it feel like Nunes, their champ, was looked at as a complete afterthought. That was kind of confirmed later when it was revealed on Rogan’s podcast that UFC executives at the time were talking about Nunes as, and I quote, “cannon fodder” for Rousey’s big triumphant return. On top of that, there was a lot of talk at the time that Rousey made demands in the run up to the fight that they didn’t show the Holm headkick on video packages and stuff during fight week. Anyone else remember that? If I went back and watched, maybe that’s bollocks. But it was 100% being talked about back then. She definitely was excused doing media though. That’s a fact. She just turned up on fight week, weighed in and that was it. Weirdest shit ever. Especially when you recall the UFC kicked up a big fuss when Conor McGregor tried to do the same earlier in the year. They made allowances for Ronda during that fight week that they never did for any other fighter, before or since.

And in the end, it was all for fuck all.

Nunes battered her from pillar to post and it was a wrap after just 48 seconds. A complete mugging. It didn’t even look like a fair fight. Nunes just walked her down and smashed her to pieces with ease. “Cannon fodder”. And that was it for Ronda. She fucked off out the back door, skipped media again and that was the last of her in the UFC. Almost ten years ago. The thing that I think soured a lot of people on Ronda here was how she handled the loss. Like I said, when she was winning and on top of the world, you couldn’t escape her. She was all over the media and clearly loving every second of it. After the Holm loss, she suffered with her mental health. Fair enough. But if she beat Nunes in the comeback, you know for a fact she’d have been the first one at that post-fight press conference talking shit. And her not doing media before the fight would’ve been retconned into “She was so intense before that fight, she just locked herself away and shut everybody out, she was dialled in”. But instead she went out there and got wrecked, then left in a sulk. What made her look even worse in the aftermath of that loss was that Dominick Cruz, who lost his title to Cody Garbrandt in the co-main that night, was at the presser, answering every question and handling the loss about as classily as you could imagine. The comparison between how Rousey handled her loss and how Cruz handled his was night and day.

It went quiet after that. By the start of 2017, both Rousey and Carano were effectively out of the game. In September that year, it was announced that Rousey had signed full time with WWE.

I’m not that familiar with her WWE run. I saw that tag match at WrestleMania where she teamed with Kurt Angle against Triple H and Stephanie and I remember thinking that was great. Really enjoyed it and I recall the reaction on here being pretty much universally positive towards Rousey’s performance. After that? Fuck knows? I’m not even sure if I actually saw another full match she had there. I liked that she always gave a little nod to Roddy Piper with her ring gear and stuff, given the LeBell and ‘Rowdy’ connections. Nice touch. But she spent a fairly significant amount of time in WWE over the next few years and I don’t remember it. I think I mostly just followed her run through this place. And like with her MMA run, I remember opinions about her started to become more negative over time. She’s one of those types where, in small doses she can be fun. But if she’s around long enough, she really can grate on you. And as usual, her time there ended on a bitter note. If I'm not mistaken, she left WWE slagging them off and cited concussions as her reason for jacking it in.

At this point, the idea of Rousey ever fighting again seemed far fetched. There’d been comeback rumours before but it was always just fan speculation. Whenever a big event or milestone event would come up like UFC 300 or the Sphere or whatever, fans would throw Ronda’s name around. But I was convinced she was done. She’d made a ton of money, stepped away, was now in her late 30s, had a couple of kids, seemed to have moved on and left that life behind and the talk of concussions at the end of her WWE run made it seem even less likely that she’d ever come back. But sometime over the last year or so, she randomly started putting videos out there of her training and she looked in better shape than she had in a while. Quotes started coming out from her saying she was “finding her love” for training MMA again. Like a lot of fans, I put two and two together and I actually started thinking she might be coming back but I assumed it would obviously be in the UFC. I thought the timing meant the UFC were probably lining her up to be on the White House card. But she shot down talk of being on that card immediately. I still thought she’d be back in the UFC though.

Then in February, out of nowhere, it got announced. Rousey vs Carano. On Netflix? 

I don’t think anyone saw it coming. Like I said, if you were watching what Ronda was putting out there you kind of knew she was cooking up something. But the Carano side, given her age and how long she’d been out, it was a surprise. There was a press conference from Dana back in December 2024 and he said “I got something in the works that you will never fucking see coming for 2025”. Nobody knew what he meant at the time and Dana never mentioned it again. Well when this Rousey vs Carano fight got announced, Carano confirmed that Dana approached her about making the Rousey fight in the UFC. In December 2024. All adds up. Rousey also confirmed she was talking to the UFC initially about doing this fight. She even said she “reached out to Dana” but it didn’t work out. Now she’s going all in on the UFC and bashing them every chance she gets. It kind of shocked me, to be honest. The same day this fight was announced she was having digs at the UFC straight away. Calling MVP “the fighter first promotion” and stuff. I’m not for one second saying her criticisms of them are even wrong. There’s a lot they deserve bashing for. But considering she admits herself that she approached the UFC first, she can’t have a big problem with how they do business. The reason she’s throwing her toys out of the pram is because they didn’t give her what she wanted. The Paramount deal seems to have been a big obstacle. Rousey claims that before that deal was made, the UFC were offering her the “biggest PPV deal in history”. Obviously that went up in smoke with them moving away from the PPV model. Ronda’s now blaming everything on Hunter Campbell, basically absolving Dana of all responsibility. But she’s knocking them so much, about subjects they hate being criticised for like fighter pay, that I don’t think she ever plans on going back there.

Here we go then. All this waffle and it’s probably gonna be a 20 second fight. Taking into account all the inactivity, age and distractions for both since either of them last fought, anything could happen really couldn’t it? But I can’t help thinking Ronda runs over Carano here. There’s always the chance Carano wallops her coming in but I’d say the most likely outcome is Rousey by early submission. You guessed it, via armbar. If she gets hold of Carano, I think it’s a wrap. I watched bits of the most recent press conference the other night and Rousey looks absolutely jacked. Neck like Tyson, even her face looked muscular. She’s on that good shit. And Carano, I don’t know, I’m getting the sense she’s just happy to be there. I think she’s solely there for one last payday. I can’t blame her. At 44, how many chances like this is she gonna get? Maybe I’m completely misreading it but I don’t get the impression she’s doing this because she really had the itch to fight again. With Ronda, call it delusion or whatever you like but she’s talking mad shit and seems to have fully convinced herself that it’s 2014 again. She’s going off on Kayla Harrison and all sorts. She’s clearly not taken it well that Dana/the UFC didn’t jump for joy and let her name her price when she came to them with this fight, and she’s using that as her motivation to stick it up all their arses. And to be honest, if Rousey wins this as I expect she will, she probably doesn’t even need the UFC. She’s probably not gonna fight more than a couple more times anyway and there’s arguably bigger fights for her outside the UFC than in it. I’ve seen people talk about Netflix possibly finally making that Rousey vs Cyborg fight. That’s obviously the big one. The stumbling block to that was always the weight but Ronda’s fighting at 145 here so there’s not really an excuse anymore. Also, Holly Holm is a free agent these days. You telling me a Rousey vs Holm rematch wouldn’t be ideal as a Netflix thing? She’s got options. If she keeps winning. But like I keep saying, who the fuck knows?

 

Nate Diaz vs Mike Perry is gonna be ***WAND’S ONE TO WATCH*** here and I’m fully aware this is most likely gonna be a train wreck. Neither of them are exactly relevant in MMA circles in 2026. Nate’s 41 years old and last fought in MMA in 2022, Perry hasn’t fought in MMA since 2021. But it’s one of them fights you’ve gotta tune in for. Pretty sure this is scheduled for five rounds as well if they need it. Can you imagine what a mess this is gonna look if it somehow makes it to the fourth and fifth rounds? No idea what to expect here but it’s a fight that’s probably gonna be just the right mix of violence, blood, shit talking, embarrassment and ridiculousness that a card like this deserves.

Nate Diaz is 21-13 in MMA now but we haven’t seen him actually fight under MMA rules since his last UFC appearance back in September 2022. He was actually supposed to get fed to Khamzat Chimaev that night if you remember. Christ. Imagine how bad that would’ve turned out for him? Dodged a bullet there. That was that mad card where they had to reshuffle everything because Khamzat missed weight. Nate ended up fighting washed up Tony Ferguson in the main event instead and subbed him in the fourth round. Looking back I’m glad it played out how it did. I never wanted to see Khamzat vs Diaz anyway but it was pretty obvious the UFC knew Nate was probably leaving and wanted to crush him on the way out. At least this way he got to leave on a win. Since then, Nate’s had a couple of silly Boxing matches. He lost a decision to Jake Paul in 2023, then won a decision over Jorge Masvidal in 2024. That’s been it for him until now.

Mike Perry’s last MMA fight was five years ago. He left the UFC on back-to-back points losses to Tim Means and Daniel Rodriguez. He’s 14-8 in MMA now. He has managed to revive his fighting career in BKFC though. He’s gone 6-0 in Bare Knuckle with four stoppages since his debut in 2022. He did also box and lose to Jake Paul in 2024 but he’s done very well for himself in BK. He’s been beating names as well. Julian ‘Let Me Bang Bro’ Lane, MVP, Luke Rockhold, Eddie Alvarez, Thiago Alves and Jeremy Stephens. Sure, some of them were past it and just cashing out, but names-wise that’s a better resume than he ever managed in MMA. Some guys are just tailor made for Bare Knuckle aren’t they? And a meathead like Perry is certainly one of them.

“People are like, ‘UFC rejects’. Well, Nate got offered millions from the UFC. He said he got offered more but he took this fight because I’m a badass and I’ve been out here killing it. It’s not just about money, he wants legacy and he wants to show people that he can fight someone like me. Obviously, my job is to shut that down.” - Mike Perry

Yeah, I’m not buying that Nate turned down millions from the UFC specifically to fight Mike Perry. But Nate is claiming that the UFC wanted him to fight Conor again. That would obviously come with a hefty price tag, even this far past both guys primes. But he didn’t go for it because he said Conor is “on his last dying fuckin leg”. I was listening to Luke Thomas talking about it recently and he said something like he thinks it’s more a financial thing (it usually is) where the UFC are probably offering Nate more upfront for the Conor fight but then they’ll lock him into a long term deal where he’ll effectively be stuck there until he retires and they’ll just feed him to up and comers for the rest of his career. Makes sense why Nate hasn’t gone for that if he can make good coin outside the UFC and have more freedom to do what he wants. He’s probably hoping the day will come when the rapist will get out of the UFC and they can do the fight elsewhere. Personally I’d rather Conor just fucks off forever. In the meantime, this should be a laugh. If this was Bare Knuckle I’d be picking Perry all day but it being under MMA rules does make this more interesting to me. There’s every chance Perry busts him up for 90% of the fight and then finds himself getting strangled.

 

Francis Ngannou vs Philipe Lins then. Scheduled for five rounds but I’d be fucking amazed if they need more than one. Surely not, right? Not sure what to make of Ngannou at this point. He’s had a crazy few years of ups and downs, in and out of the fight game. Became UFC Heavyweight champion in 2021, successfully defended it against Gane on one leg, got into a contract dispute and left the UFC, boxed Tyson Fury and surpassed all expectations in a losing effort, got sparked brutally by Anthony Joshua, returned to MMA for PFL and steamrolled Renan Ferreira in a round.

I think that’s everything from his last five years. But he also lost his young son in between the AJ loss and the Ferreira win. Heartbreaking story. Genuinely thought he might just walk away after that. He’d already made more money for those Fury and AJ fights than his whole MMA career combined. He didn’t need to ever fight again. But it was nice to see him come back on a positive note and thump Ferreira. That PFL deal was a bit of a flop though. Not for Ngannou, he made his dough, but PFL really didn’t get much out of it did they? And after all the bad feeling and public back and forth between Ngannou and Dana since the split, Ngannou then started talking about a UFC return! Unbelievable. Would’ve been cool if they could’ve put all the bullshit and differences aside and we somehow got Ngannou vs Jones and Aspinall in the UFC. But you know Dana. He just can’t let go of a grudge. So Netflix and MVP swooped in and here we are. UFC arse lickers once again tried to shit on Ngannou for ‘ruining his legacy’. Big Francis was asked about it by media recently. I loved his response…

“You cannot go to the store, or to the gas station, or to school to pay the school fee, with legacy. You have to understand that. This is bullshit that promotions feed fighters, to trick fighters with, that they’re all out there ‘fighting for legacy’. Good for you. Keep the legacy. Give me my pay. What I deserve.” - Francis Ngannou

He’s 100% right. And let’s get it right, when it comes to legacy, Ngannou is still technically the ‘lineal’ Heavyweight champion. Fans shat on Tom Aspinall for being a ‘paper champion’, having his interim belt upgraded and not winning the ‘real belt’. But the belt Jon Jones won was no more legit. He won a vacant belt which Ngannou never lost. Neither of them technically beat the man to become the man. We could’ve got all that cleared up if Dana wasn’t such a baby. Not like Francis was ducking anyone, he was publicly pushing for a UFC return. But Dana wouldn’t go for it and here we are. I don’t blame Ngannou one bit.

Caposa on Twitter (one of the few good accounts) made a great point when someone was clowning Ngannou for ‘ruining his legacy’. Among other things he said “Who cares about legacy in a sport where fans have no respect for history?” And that’s spot on, isn’t it? Most fans will only remember legacy for a certain period of time anyway, it has an expiry date and then the names on that record that you beat become so far in the past that new fans don’t know them anyway and don’t bother to learn about them. At that point, all a fighter has left is what they got out of the sport. Their real legacy is what they provide for their family and themselves. Fans will forget you anyway eventually. Sadly, as fans it means we don’t always get the fights we want. But blame the multi-billion dollar company for that, not the fighter trying to get what they’ve worked for. The best we can hope for with Ngannou now is he flattens Lins here, then he’s probably gonna end up doing the Jake Paul circus, maybe he’ll box Deontay Wilder at some point and, if he’s still around when Tom Aspinall gets free from the shackles of the UFC, I can see that possibly happening. But that’s a long shot and Ngannou is already rapidly closing in on 40.

As for Lins…I suppose I should mention him…there’s not a lot to say though. He’s 40 years old, 18-5 with 13 finishes, fought in Bellator, PFL and the UFC previously, he’s coming off four wins but has been inactive now since March 2024. Wasn’t anything special from what I remember of his UFC stint. Make no mistake, he’s being brought in as a knock over job for Ngannou here. Shit doesn’t always go to plan with the big lads but I’d be very surprised if Ngannou somehow drops a bollock here.

 

Salahdine Parnasse vs Kenneth Cross is a fight I’m really interested in and it’s one of a few on this card that brings a bit of real legitimacy to the whole thing. Not gonna pretend I’m an expert on these guys. I’ve only seen bits and pieces of Parnasse and nothing of Cross, but I’m familiar enough that I’m into the fight and I’m glad MVP didn’t just go the full-on gimmick, freakshow route for this show. A bit of that silliness is great but there needs to be a balance. Fights like this provide that.

Parnasse is French, 28 years old and has a record of 22-2 with 14 of his wins coming inside the distance. He’s the KSW Lightweight champion and comes into this fight on a four fight winning streak where he stopped all four opponents by KO/TKO, including a stoppage over Marcin Held in his last fight in January. Also has wins over current UFC fighters William Gomis, Morgan Charriere and Robert Ruchala. He’s a name I’ve been hearing for at least two or three years now. I think I first became aware of him in 2022 when the UFC were finally having their first card in Paris. Parnasse was a name I kept seeing come up back then and I became curious enough that I kind of kept tabs on him ever since. I was sure there was talk of him coming to the UFC back then and, sure enough, Parnasse has said recently that he’s had offers but opted to stay where he is “more respected and better paid”. Once again, sounds like another case of the UFC lowballing someone. Kenny ‘The Boss’ Cross is 31 years old and 17-4 with 13 finishes. Can’t say I’m familiar with him but he’s also on a four fight streak and Luke Thomas was bigging him up as a fun fighter to watch when this card was announced.

 

Junior Dos Santos vs Robelis Despaigne is probably gonna be sad to watch for the old school fans but, let’s face it, this is no worse than 99% of the Heavyweight dross we see on UFC cards these days is it? Probably not gonna last long and, sadly, I think it’s ending badly for Dos Santos. It’s not even that I think Despaigne is some world beater, it’s just the timing of it, this feels all wrong for JDS to me. He’s 42 years old, hasn’t fought in two years, he’s giving up size here, has a load of miles on the clock and has taken some horrific punishment over the course of a long career.

Bless him. Many good memories of watching JDS in his prime. I was a big fan for his entire UFC run. He came in as a teammate and friend of the Nogueira brothers so I liked him almost by default from the off. He made a big first impression scoring that upset KO in his UFC debut against Fabricio Werdum. Then he went on that run of wins over Struve, Cro Cop, Yvel, Gonzaga, Nelson and Carwin. Which lead to him getting the title shot on the big FOX debut card in late 2011, knocking out Cain Velasquez in a minute to become champ. Incredible stuff and it wasn’t the plan. In 2008, the UFC were clearly looking at Lesnar, Velasquez and Carwin as their three top Heavyweights. JDS came in as an unknown with no fanfare and rose all the way to the belt. OK, it didn’t last long and Cain ruined him in the second and third fights. But it was fun while it lasted. JDS smashing up Frank Mir obviously didn’t upset me either. He never regained the form he had on that initial rise but still had his moments. The Mark Hunt fight and finish was great. The first Stipe fight is an underrated war. He left the UFC on a bunch of losses but he beat Werdum again and Alan Belcher in his last two fights in 2023/24 in Bare Knuckle MMA. Despaigne is most likely chinning him though. And early. He’s 37 years old but relatively fresh at 5-2 in MMA. All his wins came by first round knockout, four of them lasted 18 seconds or less and he has a 4 second and 3 second KO on his record FFS. Lost his last couple of MMA fights but has gone 7-0 with 6 knockouts in Karate Combat between 2024 and 2025. Really hope I’m wrong but I don’t have a good feeling about this at all.

 

Namo Fazil vs Jake Babian. Right, this is where my knowledge of the fighters on this card drops right off a cliff. Never even heard of either of these two so I’m just gonna quickly go through the motions here. This post has gone on long enough as it is! Fazil is Iraqi, 29 years old and has a record of 9-1 with 7 finishes. I don’t recognise any of the names on his record but he’s on a six fight winning streak, whatever that’s worth. Babian doesn’t even have an age listed on either Tapology or Sherdog. He’s 6-1 with 5 finishes and hasn’t lost since his pro debut in 2023. That’s about all I’ve got.

 

Adriano Moraes vs Phumi Nkuta is the most significant change to the card since it was announced. Was all set to be Moraes against Muhammad Mokaev, which was one of the legit best fights on the card, but Mokaev had to withdraw due to Visa issues and here we are. By all accounts, Phumi Nkuta is a very decent replacement though. Moraes’ claim to MMA fame is that he once knocked out the Flyweight GOAT Demetrious ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson back in 2021 to become ONE’s Flyweight champion. That was a stunner at the time. Johnson’s retired now and, to this day, that loss to Moraes is the only time he was ever finished in a 30 fight Hall Of Fame career. They fought twice more though, and DJ won the next two, so Moraes lost the trilogy 1-2 when it was all done and dusted. Having that win over Johnson at all is a hell of an achievement but the rest of his record doesn’t really hold up. He’s a solid fighter but he’s 37 now and I’m not sure how much he’s got left in the tank. Nkuta steps in on short notice but it’s a big opportunity for him. He’s South African but moved to America as a kid, he’s 30 years old, undefeated at 11-0 and has fought in Urijah Faber’s A1 Combat, LFA and Cage Fury, winning a bunch of belts along the way. I’ve never actually seen him fight but I know of him because he’s a Serra-Longo guy.

 

Jason Jackson vs Jefferson Creighton came together late in the day. It was supposed to be Jackson against Lorenz Larkin but unfortunately Larkin got taken out by an injury. I haven’t seen a ton of Jackson but he’s a veteran and a good fighter with some really solid wins on his resume. He’s 35 years old with a record of 19-6 and 10 wins inside the distance. He’s beat the likes of Benson Henderson, Paul Daley, Douglas Lima and Andrey Koreshkov over the years and, at the time of me writing this, he’s also the only man to hold a win over current UFC Welterweight contender and former Bellator champion Yaroslav Amosov. I’m not familiar with Creighton but apparently he was on whichever season of The Ultimate Fighter that Daniel Cormier and Chael Sonnen coached. He’s 12-2-1, on a bit of a winning streak but hasn’t beat anyone of note.

 

David Mgoyan vs Albert Morales. Mgoyan’s Russian, 21 years old, trains out of American Top Team and he’s 8-1 with 6 finishes. He fought on DWCS back in September and lost to Tommy McMillen. He’s since rebounded with a decision win in January. I thought Morales looked vaguely familiar. He fought in the UFC six times between 2016 and 2018, with shite results. He also fought briefly in Bellator, BAMMA, RFA and was even on the undercard of that rancid Golden Boy MMA show with the Tito vs Chuck 3 main event. Fuck me, he gets about. Now here he is popping up on Netflix. Fair play to him for continuing to somehow get booked. At 19-10-1 now and 34 years old, he must have connections to keep resurfacing on these cards.

 

Aline Pereira vs Jade Masson-Wong is just there making up the numbers. Never seen either of them actually fight before but I know of Pereira just because she’s the younger sister of Alex Pereira.

Yes. This is the Pereira sister. Aline. Not to be confused with Alice Pereira in the UFC. Despite Dominick Cruz hilariously and confidently getting that wrong on a live UFC broadcast recently. Aside from that, I know nothing about her. She’s 35 and only 2-2 in MMA. So a very late starter. All her fights so far were in LFA and she’s gone Loss, Win, Loss, Win so far. So if we follow that pattern, she’s losing this one. Like her big bro, she started in Kickboxing, although she had nowhere near the success he did. She’s also been fighting in Karate Combat recently, she’s 3-0 there and their current Flyweight champion. Masson-Wong’s Canadian, 33 years old and 3-2 in MMA. Lost her last two fights and hasn’t fought since 2020! Christ. Clear what they’re going for here. They’re trying to set Pereira up with a squash. Call me a cynic but I suspect this is only on the card because Jake Paul knows Alex Pereira is gonna show up to corner his sister. Expect a pointless Paul vs Pereira face-off that goes nowhere and can’t go anywhere.

 

Chris Avila vs Brandon Jenkins is probably on here purely as a favour to Nate Diaz. Avila is a long time teammate and friend of the Diaz brothers. He’s 33 years old and has a losing record of 8-9. He’s the typical journeyman. He’s knocked about a bit and at one time or another he’s fought in the UFC, Bellator, WSOF and Combate Americas. Most recently he’s fought in a promotion called North Iowa Fights. Big time. He is actually coming into this fight off a couple of first round stoppage wins though. Jenkins has also done the rounds. He’s 34 years old, 17-12 in MMA and has appeared in the UFC, PFL, KOTC, LFA and Gamebred Bare Knuckle MMA. Nothing of note on his record and he’s coming off a first round submission loss to James Martin (the TV chef?) in his last fight in October.

 

Rousey. Carano. In 2026?

Edited May 15 by wandshogun09

[Egg Shen]

Said it before, will say it again, you deserve to be getting paid for these writeup's wand, at a minimum hey deserve a bigger audience. Better than most you see on respected MMA sites. Good work.

[jimufctna24]

46 minutes ago, wandshogun09 said:

I remember watching that fight, probably not right at the time, it probably didn’t even air over here. But I definitely saw it at some point not too long after and I’m pretty sure it was the first women’s fight I saw. I remember really enjoying it.

I've only read the Rousey vs Tate part of your OP so far, but you've typed up an awesome summary of both of their careers. I especially agree with your read on the Rousey vs Holm bout. 

Regarding the part I have quoted. 

I'm sure that the Shamrock vs Gracie event, for which Tate vs Kedzie starred on the undercard, didn't air on UK TV at the time. I was between DVD suppliers at the time, and had yet learned had to download torrents, so I had to make do with reading the results online. I remember logging into Sherdog and seeing some fans moaning about Shamrock being DQ'd 😄

Edited April 18 by jimufctna24

[Egg Shen]

I love this card. It's not the greatest or deepest card ever, but it's unlocking a certain feeling to me that I haven't felt in years as a long time MMA fan. Roll on the 16th!

[Dai]

I can't get on with the PFL, so something that's just different from the UFC is a big deal for me. I hope they put some effort into the production and set, just so that it feels different from the years and years of cookie cutter UFC design we have had. 

Haven't read the write up yet, as it looks so good that I want to give it the respect it deserves and allocate some time to getting through it all in one go. Pioneers is a strong word,  but both Gina and Ronda are definitely in that category. They both created a buzz that maybe only a handful of other people in the entire history of the sport can claim to have done similar. 

Edited April 19 by Dai

[Egg Shen]

2 hours ago, Dai said:

I can't get on with the PFL, so something that's just different from the UFC is a big deal for me.

The PFL have some work to do to get back in the good graces with MMA fans. The whole tournament concept and some other weird shit they did pretty much alienated the fanbase. I was somewhat onboard with it because I tried to follow closely, but really, it was all bollocks. What they are doing now is much better, just can't help but feel the damage has been done. I'm all for the rebranding they've suggested.

[Mr.Showtime]

That was a great write-up @wandshogun09, many thanks! Think I've said it before but I only dip into MMA a couple of times a year now, and your previews help me understand who's who and enjoy the bouts more. Top stuff!

You were accurate enough with the Rousey WWE section, I saw a lot of it but it hasn't really stuck in the mind that much: I mostly remember matches with the likes of Alexa Bliss and Nia Jax for some reason. But there was definitely a honeymoon period of enjoyable matches and a strong presentation, which seemed to fall away when she started getting boos (or they were pondering turning her, not sure which came first). It also probably didn't help that the latter part of the run involved the likes of (I had to google this to remember) Shotzi, Emma, and Liv Morgan, and the Shayna Baszler team/feud would obviously have been much stronger if they'd given a damn about Baszler in the years before it.

Anyways, I saw most of Rousey's UFC fights at the time but never knew a thing about Gina Carano, but now I do!

[wandshogun09]

Cheers for the comments. And fair play to anyone for actually reading that absolute wall of text. I didn’t mean for that post to end up as long as it did!

Saw this quote from Rousey the other day…

All this for a one-off? It’s not like I expected her to go on a proper lengthy run again at pushing 40, but I thought she’d at least have two or three fights. 

[Kfogg1991]

Surely not she can't return and make such a storm only to leave after it's done look At how she's been she's fired up and actually passionate again 

[jimufctna24]

On 4/19/2026 at 10:56 AM, Dai said:

I can't get on with the PFL, so something that's just different from the UFC is a big deal for me. I hope they put some effort into the production and set, just so that it feels different from the years and years of cookie cutter UFC design we have had. 

I can see where you are coming from. I'm prepared to give the PFL a chance now that they are rebranding, but from what I have seen of it lately it is essentially Scott Coker's Bellator with slightly different lighting and commentators. 

Rizin does MMA best imo. Its production is top-notch, from their preview shows to their lighting and so on. It's a shame they don't have many world class fighters on their roster, even when compared to the PFL. 

It'll be interesting to see how Netflix produces MMA. 

Edited April 24 by jimufctna24

[Kfogg1991]

16 hours ago, jimufctna24 said:

I can see where you are coming from. I'm prepared to give the PFL a chance now that they are rebranding, but from what I have seen of it lately it is essentially Scott Coker's Bellator with slightly different lighting and commentators. 

Rizin does MMA best imo. Its production is top-notch, from their preview shows to their lighting and so on. It's a shame they don't have many world class fighters on their roster, even when compared to the PFL. 

It'll be interesting to see how Netflix produces MMA. 

This is my opinion of course but this isn't the time to give PFL a shot and judge and mindset they are the second company under UFC 

They were there and gave so much to show others to draw in they aren't close to that product now they bought belator then ran both separately only to close belator completely and integrate both rosters together instead..... then choose to run shows spread between weeks of eachother, stopping the season/league layout ending the tournaments so having nothing different or to stand out and the interesting (if not slightly silly at parts product and more football layout formats) they've lost so many of their big draws it's a shell now unfortunately sorry if I've rambled 

[wandshogun09]

The thing with this PFL “rebrand” is, maybe I’m wrong, correct me if I am, but the last thing I heard about the rebrand was that they were gonna go back to calling it Bellator. For the life of me I can’t see how anyone can see that as a good move. Bellator was great in the early years but by the end it was absolutely dead as a brand. Even though they actually had plenty of talent, for whatever reason, some of it their own doing and some of it just bad luck, the word ‘Bellator’ became synonymous with flat, disappointing, lifeless cards. Even when they had cards that looked decent on paper, on the night they rarely delivered by the end of Bellator’s run.

Like I said, maybe I’ve misunderstood it and this isn’t the plan. Can’t be arsed to look it up. But if they are planning to go back to the Bellator name, I think that’s a terrible idea. A step backwards rather than a fresh coat of paint. Plus, they already rebranded from WSOF to PFL. Changing the name on its own isn’t the answer to all their problems if it’s essentially the same promotion with the same management, same production crew, same announce team and the same roster. 

[Egg Shen]

It wasn't confirmed. When Ariel Helwani interviewed the new CEO, John Martin he put that rumor to him and he said it was one of the ideas they were considering. 

 

[wandshogun09]

Hopefully they go a completely different route then. No point going backwards. 

[jimufctna24]

6 hours ago, wandshogun09 said:

The thing with this PFL “rebrand” is, maybe I’m wrong, correct me if I am, but the last thing I heard about the rebrand was that they were gonna go back to calling it Bellator. For the life of me I can’t see how anyone can see that as a good move. Bellator was great in the early years but by the end it was absolutely dead as a brand. Even though they actually had plenty of talent, for whatever reason, some of it their own doing and some of it just bad luck, the word ‘Bellator’ became synonymous with flat, disappointing, lifeless cards. Even when they had cards that looked decent on paper, on the night they rarely delivered by the end of Bellator’s run.

Like I said, maybe I’ve misunderstood it and this isn’t the plan. Can’t be arsed to look it up. But if they are planning to go back to the Bellator name, I think that’s a terrible idea. A step backwards rather than a fresh coat of paint. Plus, they already rebranded from WSOF to PFL. Changing the name on its own isn’t the answer to all their problems if it’s essentially the same promotion with the same management, same production crew, same announce team and the same roster. 

Bellator isn't even a good name for a MMA promotion either 😄

I agree that the Bellator brand has a huge stigma and should be left in the past. I did have some fun following Coker's version of the promotion in the late 2010s and early 2020s, but I had to endure a lot of shite in the process.