B-League Preview: MVP MMA 1
Rousey vs Carano
MVP MMA 1: Rousey vs Carano - Saturday, May 16
Here it is, folks. The Big ‘Un. Ronda Rousey. Gina Carano. Most Valuable Promotions. The fight we’ve been told we’ve all been waiting for. Is it gonna be good? Friend, if they thought it would be good, they’d make you pay for it.
Main Card - Netflix
Featherweight - Ronda Rousey vs Gina Carano
Oh, okay.
We’ve got two fighters here with over two decades of combined inactivity. They’ve each only got one or two opponents on their records still considered active in LIz Carmouche, Holly Holm, and Cris Cyborg, while Amanda Nunes exists in a liminal state of simultaneous active retirement. Any combination of those women would be a much better viewing experience than whatever this sham of a farce fight ends up being.
Ronda is younger, has been more physically active recently with a WWE career that ended after she got upset people booed her. However, her brain is applesauce due to continuous concussive impacts.
Gina is older, but she’s been kept fresh by not getting blows to the head on a regular basis, as her requirements as a Daily Wire streaming star are to grimace and mutter her lines in a flat affect. Her brain is applesauce because of Online.
Expect some awkward shuffling, the most dogshit punches you’ve seen, then an ugly collision that could only be considered a clinch under the most charitable interpretation of the word. A semi-controlled falldown and then an armbar. This whole thing should take about twenty-five seconds. If it lasts longer, someone’s on the take.
Welterweight - Nate Diaz vs Mike Perry
Here we have the dum-dums. The most Florida Man ever assembled (secretly originally from Michigan) and the general of the Dingdong Brigade, Nathaniel Donald Diaz.
Perry has kept busy since his departure from UFC with bareknuckle boxing, and of course, losing to Jake Paul. He also hasn’t fought just regular-degular MMA since 2021, hasn’t won since 2020, and last stopped someone in 2017.
Nate Diaz beat the washed, chopped, and cooked version of Tony Ferguson. Man was a damn Waffle House hashbrowns order at that point.
Mike Perry has never been able to figure out what to do when an opponent throws a jab or uses anything beyond rudimentary footwork. Nate Diaz has half of that equation perfected. Perry is going to get stung a few times, might even get some blood coming out of his nose, but eventually, he’s going to wade in and blast big bombs on Nate.
Heavyweight - Francis N’Gannou vs Philipe Lins
Now if this fight goes more than twenty-five seconds, someone really is on the take.
Lins has not fought at heavyweight since 2020. He’s also giving up a few inches in height, about 5 inches in reach, and when he did fight above 205, he’s about 35 pounds lighter than Francis’s usual weight.
Francis hasn’t really done much in MMA, but Renan Ferreira is probably a lot better than Lins, and N’Gannou handled him easily.
Francis by Unspeakable Violence.
Lightweight - Salahdinne Parnasse vs Kenneth Cross
Parnasse has been beating the hell out of dudes in Poland’s KSW. Most recently, he dispatched Marcin Held, who is somehow only 34. That is interesting to just me.
Do you remember mid-2010s Bellator guy Emmanuel Sanchez? Well, he’s the best win on Cross’s record.
This could be a fun little scrap between two unknown guys that get overshadowed by the bigger names. Sadly, this will probably be the portion of the main card that people go get snacks. Sorry guys.
Heavyweight - Junior Dos Santos vs Robelis Despaigne
JDS hasn’t won in MMA since 2019. He has won some bouts in Karate Combat, but for mixed martial arts, he was last seen with his arm flurping out of the shoulder socket back when Khabib was trying to launder money through Eagle FC.
Despaigne is a tall man who beat terrible guys in MMA and a combo of old and undersized guys in Karate Combat.
This fight is going to be stupid and sad. Gird yourself!
Select Prelims - Live on MVP YouTube and TUDUM. And Poob. Just Poob It
I’m not covering the fight itself, but there’s a guy on the prelims who fought on Golden Boy’s Liddell vs Ortiz 3 card. It’s just kind of interesting that he’s showing up on this sad cashgrab event as well.
Maybe he’ll get booked for Zuck vs Musk in 2030 on Mars.
Flyweight - Adriano Moraes vs Phumi Nkuta
Another fight that was a late notice downgrade. Moraes was supposed to face the embattled former top UFC fighter, Muhammad Mokaev. Unfortunately, visa issues popped up, keeping him out of the event.
Moraes, you may recall, knocked out Demetrious Johnson five years ago. Then he got beat by DJ in back to back rematches. He is a large bantamweight making his first attempt to weigh in at 125 lbs since 2017 and now he’s also 37.
Nkuta is undefeated with no notable wins.
Moraes will probably win, but it’s far and few that can maintain high level of competition in the tiny weight divisions past 35.
Welterweight - Jason Jackson vs Jeff Creighton
This is a lament for what could have been. This fight was originally scheduled as Jason the Ass-Kicking Machine Jackson versus Lorenz Da Monsoon Larkin.
Jackson and Larkin had been punching dudes the hell out in the sputtering, dying days of Bellator. This was supposed to be a Super Punch Battle. But Larkin is hurt and out of the bout.
Jeff Creighton lost on TUF 33. He beat Joey Davis, but that’s the kind of late-era Bellator errata that only appeals to me specifically.
I need Jackson to pummel Creighton to set up the rain check of him versus Larkin at MVP MMA 2, which will never happen.
Catchweight (130lbs) - Aline Pereira vs Jaden Masson-Wong
Did you know: Aline Pereira is Alex Pereira’s younger sister? She has none of the accolades of Alex, but she does share a similar genetic structure!
Masson-Wong hasn’t fought MMA since 2020, and she hasn’t won in MMA since 2018.
Oh wow I could not possibly begin to guess who is expected to win this contest!
Catchweight (165 lbs) - Chris Avila vs Brandon Jenkins
It is the Contractually Obligated Nate Diaz’s Friend booking portion of the card. Chris Avila wasn’t UFC caliber in 2016, he wasn’t Bellator caliber in 2019, and I don’t think he’s MVP MMA caliber in 2026.
Brandon Jenkins was also not UFC caliber, and he’s also lost in Bareknuckle MMA as well as Karate Combat.
Get ready for heavyweight level technique, with middleweight level gas tanks.