Outside Source
Of course, much will hinge on the company’s May 16 debut: a Netflix card at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles headlined by Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano. MVP’s MMA debut also features a number of notable names such as Francis Ngannou, Nate Diaz, Mike Perry, Junior dos Santos and Muhammad Mokaev, to name a few.
Advertisement
MVP co-founder Nakisa Bidarian recently discussed the organization’s future in an interview with the Sports Business Journal and admitted that the promotion is interested in MMA beyond one-off events.
“I think a lot of it depends on May 16, right?” Bidarian said. “We’re putting a lot of fire power, star power, distribution to the event. If it works, and I’m very confident it will work, yes — MVP will be involved in MMA over the long term.”
Netflix will provide MVP will a significant platform for its debut event. The Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson bout on Netflix, for example, reportedly drew more than 100 million viewers to the streaming platform. Bidarian believes the Rousey vs. Carano card can have a similar impact in MMA.
Plenty of Interest
“[Netflix is] really a difference maker in being able to stand up a product that can be viewed as top-tier distribution and exposure for the athletes, so May 16 will be tell-tale in terms of what’s possible,” Bidarian said. “I’m confident that we will have one of the, if not the most viewed, MMA event in history, just like I was confident that Paul-Tyson would break streaming records in the U.S. versus any form of content.
“And on the back of that, we look forward to sitting down with Netflix or other distributors and seeing what the MMA strategy is for us going forward. But we’ve had no shortage of interested athletes reaching out to us to be involved.”
Bidarian would not reveal if MVP has a multi-event deal with Netflix, which thus far has shown interest in streaming one-off attractions in combat sports.
“This to me is a crossover mainstream event,” Bidarian said. “And for us to be able to add the caliber of star power, plus true top-tier current contenders … it’s a great card that we’re proud of and we think we’ll be very successful come Saturday, May 16.”
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
Help support MMACrazies.com when you shop Amazon by starting your online Amazon shopping at MMACrazies.com/recommends/amazon. You are not charged extra, but we receive a small and very helpful commission on everything you purchase. Thanks for thinking of us every time you shop at Amazon.
