Saturday, May 16, 2026, will go down as a memorable day in MMA. You had two MMA cards going head-to-head simultaneously. While the UFC was focused on an Apex card with UFC Vegas 117, headlined by Arnold Allen and Melquizael Costa, Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) promoted its first MMA card at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California. That card featured the likes of Ronda Rousey, Gina Carano, Nate Diaz, Mike Perry, and Francis Ngannou.
And in an era of tribalism, die-hards, loyalists, attackers…watching both cards ended up being some of the most fun this writer had in a little while watching multiple events at once.
UFC Vegas 117
Were the names on the UFC Vegas 117 card the strongest? No. But were the performances memorable? Absolutely.
Faced with a rising contender and needing a win to remain relevant in the upper echelon of the featherweight conversation, Arnold Allen delivered. It was disciplined and calculated, it was wrestling-heavy, but not without some early striking where Allen’s boxing proved to be too much. It was a solid, all-around performance where Allen nearly swept the scorecards.
UFC Vegas 117 also saw Doo-ho Choi deliver an awesome finish of Daniel Santos. Juan Diaz, in his UFC debut, finished prospect Malcolm Wellmaker in upset fashion. Heck, history was made on the preliminary card when Alice Ardelean scored the first-ever capsule lock submission in UFC history.
MVP MMA
Was the Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano fight uncompetitive? Yes, but I don’t know what you were expecting from a fight where someone was fighting for the first time in 17 years. But it was still an eye-catching matchup considering the long layoffs and legendary women’s MMA status of these two.
Plus, there were plenty of big names and fun fights. Nate Diaz and Mike Perry had an absolute war until Diaz’s corner was forced to stop the fight. Francis Ngannou pulled off a vintage Ngannou performance, complete with a devastating first-round knockout.
You also had a couple of hard-hitting finishes from Karate Combat champion Robelis Despaigne, who brutally stopped former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos, and former Bellator welterweight champion Jason Jackson, who needed just 22 seconds to put out Jeff Creighton.
Competition is a Good Thing
What’s the point of this? Is it about both cards delivering? Is it to shed light on the most important names from last night? Yes to both of those, but there’s something bigger here.
Look at the paydays from last night’s MVP card. Rousey, Carano, and Ngannou all took him over $1 million. Only champions have the chance to make that kind of money. The lowest-paid fighters? $40,000. That’s 3.5-4 times more than the UFC’s lowest-tier fighter pay.
An outlet like MVP MMA gives choice to fighters – they can choose to sacrifice some of the luster and brand recognition of the UFC if they’d rather have better pay earlier on in their professional MMA career.
There has also been criticism from fans and pundits about some of the cards the UFC has put on – an issue that has been on the rise since more and more cards were held, stretching back to the Fox days. Of course, the UFC has been the clear No. 1 leader in MMA for a long while now, and it has 7.7 billion reasons why they don’t need to worry.
But if MVP MMA can offer a true alternative, then maybe you’ll start to see a little more quality concern about the product. Maybe it means continued expansion of bringing more Fight Nights outside the Apex. Maybe there’s more spread of notable names.
And don’t think the UFC isn’t paying any attention. You think it’s a coincidence that they drop the Conor McGregor vs. Max Holloway 2 UFC 329 announcement during this night – while Ngannou is doing his ring walk as well?
Monopolies are boring, and some MMA fans have felt the last few years has been recession-like at times. Competition and alternative products breed new life – and for some, MVP MMA’s card brought them back to the days of old.
A promotional war? That makes the fans winners.
