Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano returned to the cage Saturday on the first mixed martial arts event promoted by Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions brand, a card built around comebacks and headlined by a long-expected reboot of familiar names. The event took place at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California.
Rousey, the UFC’s inaugural women’s bantamweight champion, had not fought since a knockout loss to Amanda Nunes in December 2016. Carano was making her first walk to the cage in nearly 17 years, after her last fight ended in a first-round knockout loss to Cris Cyborg in August 2009.
The card also brought back Nate Diaz, who fought Mike Perry in 4-ounce gloves for the first time in nearly four years. Diaz’s last MMA fight was a fourth-round submission win over Tony Ferguson in September 2022, while Perry had not competed in MMA since an April 2021 unanimous decision loss to Daniel Rodriguez. Francis Ngannou also ended a nearly two-year stint away from MMA after going 0-2 in boxing matches against Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua during that stretch.
That collection of returns gave the main card a clear theme: names that once defined different stretches of the sport stepping back into it at the same time. Ngannou arrived as the former UFC heavyweight champion and PFL Super Fights heavyweight titleholder, while Carano’s comeback came after nearly 17 years away and Rousey’s after more than eight years out of action.
Saturday’s card was not only about nostalgia, though. It also produced a slate of results across the lineup, including Salahdine Parnasse’s first-round TKO over Kenneth Cross, Robelis Despaigne’s first-round knockout of Junior dos Santos, and Jason Jackson’s first-round knockout of Jeff Creighton. Namo Fazil, Adriano Moraes, David Mgoyan, Aline Pereira and Brandon Jenkins also picked up wins on the show.
For Most Valuable Promotions, the message was plain: it wanted its first MMA event to feel like a moment. By placing Rousey, Carano, Diaz and Ngannou on the same stage in Inglewood, the promotion made sure the night was about more than one fight. It was about whether the sport still has room for names that can pull fans back through the door on reputation alone.
