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MVP MMA On Netflix One And Done?
Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano was the first live MMA event to ever feature on Netflix. It may also be the last for quite some time. Jake Paul and Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) intended to disrupt the MMA world with their collaboration with the streaming giant, but Netflix has fallen on hard times. Its stock […]
Kayla Harrison trashes Ronda Rousey's MMA resume
UFC women's bantamweight champion Kayla Harrison isn't impressed with Ronda Rousey's MMA resume.
UFC Freedom 250 Fails to Knock Out The Ratings
(Welcome to my weekly streaming ratings report, the single best guide to what’s popular in streaming TV and what isn’t. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. If you were forwarded this email, please subscribe to get these insights each week.) If UFC fans wanted one image to say, “Hey, Paramount+ is crushing it with their UFC rights deal,” I could provide that image. Here it is: (Reminder: this is my creation of the Nielsen Top 30, since Nielsen doesn’t combine the lists or include sports. I take all three lists and combine them. Some streaming TV shows probably have higher ratings than many of the films on this list.) Look at that! UFC Freedom 250 is number one! It topped the Nielsen “Top 30” list for shows and films that made the top ten the week of 15-June. So if you’re a UFC fan or supporter of Paramount+, that’s the good news for you this week. This program topped the ratings charts for one week. Everything else is bad news, or at least a huge caveat to that story, which I’ll explain today in the first part of this week’s Streaming Ratings Report—for the weeks of 8-June and 15-June—which is a double issue since I’ve been writing on a bunch of topics recently. UFC Freedom 250 is one of the biggest streaming events of the year, and super relevant to Paramount+’s strategy, so it merited its own article. Let’s dive in! (Reminder: The streaming ratings report focuses on the U.S. market and compiles data from Nielsen’s weekly top ten viewership ranks, Luminate’s Top Ten Data, JustWatch and Reelgood interest data, Samba TV household viewership, company datecdotes, Netflix hours viewed data, Google Trends, and IMDb to determine the most popular content. While most data points are current, Nielsen’s data covers the weeks of June 8th to June 21st 2026. You can find a link to my terminology here.) Subscribe Check Out My Interview on UFC 250 at MMA Draw After you read this article, if you want even more thoughts on UFC and Paramount-Skydance/Paramount+, I did a written interview with MMA Draw. They asked me to answer some questions about UFC Freedom 250, and I was happy to chat with them. Find it here: [ The MMA Draw Newsletter Did Paramount really overpay for the UFC? What the data tells us so far If you know the history of American television, you also know that combat sports is often a leading indicator of the future… Read more a day ago · 10 likes · 1 comment · Nate Wilcox and Zach Arnold ](https://www.themmadraw.com/p/did-paramount-really-overpay-for?utm_source=substack&utm_campaign=post_embed&utm_medium=web) I never thought I’d need a combat sports newsletter in my life, but the good folks at MMA Draw publish an excellent one on UFC, MMA, pro wrestling, boxing and more, analyzing both the sports themselves and the politics, economics and antitrust issues that impact them. Check the article and their newsletter out! Paramount+ Has Its Best Sporting Event of All Time…But Was It Worth It? Before we look at the UFC Freedom 250 data in particular, let’s talk about what we can’t say. Namely, let’s start with the lack of comparisons. First off, I’d love to put a chart out comparing this fight to past UFC fights on Paramount+…but we don’t have the data. This is the first time we’ve gotten Nielsen data about a Paramount+ UFC fight. As far as I can tell, Paramount provided data for the first fight, but it was a proprietary datecdote (saying it had “an average minute audience” of 5 million “views”) and then, for two fights, we got the linear viewership numbers when they aired on CBS, but no streaming data. Everything else was crickets. We also can’t compare this fight to other fights/combat sports on streaming, in particular the MMA and boxing, because Netflix also didn’t use Nielsen to track those events, opting for TVision and VideoAmp, respectively. (This isn’t Paramount’s fault, but does still suck.) We also can’t compare to UFC’s fights that used to be on ESPN+, since we don’t have any data for that, plus Disney+ didn’t have marquee fights. The comparisons would not be apples-to-apples. Can we compare to past Pay-Per-View fights? Absolutely not. The comparisons would absolutely NOT be apples-to-apples. That didn’t stop Paramount+, though, who bragged that their UFC events have reached drastically more people than past PPV fights. Duh. Sorry, but I gotta make this point again. A basic tenet of economics is that the cheaper something becomes, the more people consume or buy it. That’s Econ 101. (Sometimes pundits call things “Econ 101” that are actually like Econ 210 or even PhD-level economics, but no, this is really like first or second class basic economics.) Yet I still see one analytics firm consistently say that more people watch films on streaming than PVOD proves streaming which means that the streaming window is more valuable than the PVOD window. No, it’s not! Same thing here. Pay-Per-View events back in the day could be really, really, really expensive! So whole groups of people pitched in to buy them. That increased the perceived value of, say, the Mike Tyson fight. Or a UFC numbered event. So yes, the fact that Paramount+ makes numbered UFC fights essentially “free” if you’re already a Paramount+ member means consumption will go up. Obviously. Same for Netflix and their boxing matches. They’re talking about fights that used to cost consumers, in some cases, $50 in 1996…which is over $100 in today’s dollars. Over 1.6 million people paid that to watch the Tyson-Holyfield fight! Again, streaming is essentially “free”. Or $10 to $20, depending on what streamer we’re talking about and what tier you’re on. No wonder more people are “watching”. (Plus, Nielsen’s out-of-home viewing also helps these numbers.) UFC Freedom 250 Did Well…But I Have A Lot of Worries So what can we compare the fights to? Well, the good news is Nielsen put out that the fight averaged 7.0 million viewers for UFC Freedom 250, which is a solid number for a fight. We also know the length, at roughly 4 and a half hours. (I saw different run times, but this seems to be the consensus considering it started at 8 pm, had a delay and then finished after midnight on the East Coast. If you assume a shorter run time, then yes, the total hours viewed would go down.) That means I have the two numbers needed to add this to my Nielsen database. And then…I can compare this viewership to the NFL: And, uh, not great. But also within striking distance, mainly because the runtime for this event was so long. I’d also add that this event had viewership equal to a regular season NFL game on streaming, but if anything, it was more comparable to an NFL playoff or Super Bowl-esque event. And you can compare viewership to the top football games on broadcast, cable and streaming, and it’s not impressive at all: We can also compare it to other sports that week, including the NBA Finals and start of the World Cup: Again, not great. The NBA generated roughly four times as many average viewers each game for its NBA Finals. The World Cup has similarly big numbers. Also, that’s just a tiny fraction of the 25 most watched sporting events each week. The NBA, NHL and FIFA World Cup had many, many more games racking up hours. We could also compare this to other streaming programs to get an idea of “is this a good investment?” and here is how it ranks compared to other top Paramount+ programs: The worry here? Well, unlike scripted programming, which has rewatchability, older fights/sporting events have very little library value. Very, very few people are rewatching these fights, especially years from now. Paramount has also released datecdotes bragging about their subscriber numbers. Earlier this year, they claimed that the first UFC fight on Paramount+ brought in 1 million subscribers. Then, in their quarterly earnings report, they only ended up with 700K subs. Not great! They claimed they dropped lower-value international subscribers, but that’s why I tend to discount subscriber additions when they’re leaked to the press.1 I expect we may see a bump again for UFC Freedom 250, but I’d caution using subscriber growth so soon after these events to judge the success, since new subs with high churn (see Peacock) aren’t great either. Also, analysts often want to attribute all subscriber growth to their favorite/pet show, and that just doesn’t make sense. The biggest caveat for UFC Freedom 250 and Paramount’s very first UFC marquee event is that these could be high watermarks for the sport. UFC Freedom 250 had an incredible amount of earned media coverage compared to most UFC fights. I mean, it had wall-to-wall national news coverage in the lead up to the event. (The first fight also had a lot of promotion from Paramount since it was first.) Other fights could reach this bar—say the Conor McGregor return to the Octagon—but they’ll be fewer and far between. Was This Deal Worth It? All to ask: is this Paramount deal worth it? In this case, I think the UFC Freedom 250 numbers are more distracting than helpful. This fight did well and compares well to other top sporting events. But we know that the first marquee event was at least a third smaller, if Paramount’s own data is to be believed. And it’s likely the other fights are much, much, much smaller. And then you get to the paycheck that Paramount-Skydance paid. FIFA’s World Cup cost about the same for Fox, but clearly generated multiples more total viewership. (Though it’s only every four years.) The NBA is much more expensive, but until the playoffs, they likely didn’t pay for itself. Even still, Disney, NBCUniversal and Amazon Prime Video likely overpaid. So, in that context, the NBA may be an overpay that makes the UFC look not so bad. But two overpays don’t make an underpay, to paraphrase the old cliché about wrongs and rights. And looking at UFC Freedom 250 as the likely ceiling of MMA on Paramount+, Paramount-Skydance likely paid too much. Share 1 I would love regular reports on subscriber additions by programs, but as is, it’s mostly leaked or rumored in haphazard ways.
Most Unnecessary Rematch Ever?
Nate Diaz vs. Mike Perry was not a particularly competitive fight. The duo dueled a couple months ago at the inaugural MVP MMA event, which aired on Netflix and featured the return of Ronda Rousey among several other high-profile matchups. For many longtime fight fans, the most anticipated clash was the Diaz vs. Perry, two […]
Smack-Talking Rousey ‘Doesn’t Want’ Holm Rematch
It’s been over a decade since the high kick heard ‘round the world. In November 2015, Holly Holm picked apart and knocked out the previously undefeated Ronda Rousey, shaking up the sport in a shocking way. The two would never rematch, however, as Holm lost her title (in the worst business decision of all time?) […]
Holly Holm wasn't surprised by Ronda Rousey returning
Ronda Rousey's dominating three-year reign atop the UFC women's bantamweight division was brought to a sudden halt by Holly Holm at UFC 193 in November 2015. Holm knocked out Rousey with a head kick early in the second round sending shockwaves throughout the combat sports world. Rousey returned to ...
Nate Diaz breaks silence on Mike Perry loss
Nate Diaz returned to mixed martial arts for the first time in nearly four years on May 16 in the MVP MMA: Rousey vs. Carano co-main event. The former UFC title challenger took on Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship's "King of Violence" Mike Perry and suffered a largely one-sided TKO loss. Diaz ...
Sports quiz of the week: Arsenal, French Open, Ronda Rousey and Aaron Rai
Have you been following the big stories in football, tennis, boxing, golf, rugby union and MMA?
Rousey's return draws US-record MMA viewership for Netflix
The first live MMA event broadcast on Netflix — featuring a double-comeback bout between Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano — attracted the most U.S. viewers in the sport's history. Netflix and Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions reported on Tuesday that Saturday's event in Inglewood, California, drew as many as 17 million viewers worldwide, including a peak of 11.6 million in the U.S. The U.S. figure surpassed the previous MMA record of 8.8 million in 2011 for UFC on FOX 1.
Ronda Rousey entered Gina Carano fight injured
Former UFC women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey only needed 17 seconds to finish women's mixed marital arts pioneer Gina Carano at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif. on Saturday. The two met in the featured fight of Most Valuable Promotions and Netflix's debut MMA event. It ...
Rousey seals perfect ending with 15-second comeback win
Ronda Rousey rolls back the years as she submits Gina Carano with a trademark armbar inside 15 seconds of their much-anticipated comeback fight.
Nate Diaz vs. Mike Perry MVP MMA live blog
Fan favorites Nate Diaz and Mike Perry collide at MVP MMA: Rousey vs. Carano
Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano odds, picks, betting predictions, best sportsbook promos, MVP MMA 1 fight card
Here's a look at everything fans and bettors need to know about the bout between Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano
Rousey vs. Carano results: Robelis Despaigne brutally KOs Junior dos Santos in first-ever MMA fight on Netflix
MVP MMA 1: Rousey vs. Carano Prelim Card live stream
Watch the full MVP MMA 1: Rousey vs. Carano preliminary card before the main card featuring Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano, Nate Diaz vs. Mike Perry, and Francis Ngannou vs. Philipe Lins. The preliminary card is expected to begin at 6 p.m. ET. PRELIMINARY CARD: Namo Fazil vs. Jake Babian Adriano ...
Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano odds, picks, betting predictions, best sportsbook promos, Saturday MMA fight card
Here's a look at everything fans and bettors need to know about the bout between Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano
Rousey vs. Carano Start Time, Full Fight Card Details!
Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano will headline Jake Paul’s debut mixed martial arts (MMA) event, as MVP MMA 1 is set to go down later tonight (Sat., May 16, 2026) inside Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, California (full results here). In the co-main event of the evening — which will be streaming live on Netflix […]
Ranking the MVP MMA main card fights 1 to 5 by entertainment potential
Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano are in the main event, but wild cards Nate Diaz and Mike Perry could steal the show.
Ranking the MVP MMA main card fights 1 to 5 by entertainment potential
Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano are in the main event, but wild cards Nate Diaz and Mike Perry could steal the show.
Jake Paul Shares Concerning Health Update Ahead of Possible Boxing Return
Since suffering a brutal sixth-round knockout loss to Anthony Joshua on Dec. 19, 2025, Jake Paul has largely stayed out of the boxing spotlight. The loss reportedly left Paul with a broken jaw in two places, forcing him into recovery and putting his fighting future into question. Now, months later, Paul is making the media rounds again while promoting MVP’s massive Netflix MMA event headlined by the return of Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano this Friday, May 15.
Ronda Rousey reveals minimum fighter pay in MVP
Fighter pay in mixed marital arts has been a hot button topic for years. While it has increased, it's still not where a lot of people would like, including former UFC women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey. Obviously, the biggest stars garner the biggest paydays, but the debuting fighter's ...
Ronda Rousey steals the show with fiery Kayla Harrison rant
Ronda Rousey was at her very best during her time in the spotlight at the Palladium Times Square in New York, transforming the MVP MMA press conference into a war declaration on Kayla Harrison and the UFC. Despite being away from the octagon for almost a decade, Rousey remains atop the biggest ...
Ronda Rousey's return likely a one-and-done deal
Former UFC women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey will return to competition after a decade on May 16, at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California. "Rowdy" will face fellow women's MMA pioneer Gina Carano under Most Valuable Promotions. Rousey, 39, last fought in December ...
Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano: Women's MMA legends to square off
Rousey and Carano will face-off in a fight at the Intuit Dome on May 16