Outside Source
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.”
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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.”
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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