Rousey back in MMA hoping new company can rival UFC

Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) is gearing up for a major surge in combat sports activity, featuring high-profile boxing and MMA events, particularly showcasing women’s boxing and a blockbuster Netflix MMA card.

There are low-key shows scheduled for next month in London and New York before the first major one at the Intuit Dome, Los Angeles on May 16.

Nate Diaz will be returning to MMA against fellow UFC alum ‘Platinum’ Mike Perry on the undercard to Ronda Rousey-Gina Carano.  Rousey, 39, left the UFC after initially dominating then losing her last two bouts badly. She turned to wrestling and is now back to MMA.

Prior to the announcement on Monday, MVP’s first MMA event was due to be headlined by the Rousey-Carano fight and co-headlined by the return of Francis Ngannou against Philipe Lins. But as the card continues to expand MVP has added a contest between two fighters who cut their teeth in UFC, only to have since earned larger pay-days for losses against Jake Paul in boxing.

Diaz and Perry never met in the cage before, so this is a first-time match-up between two veteran names in the combat sports space.