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Brett Okamoto
Multiple Authors
The first MMA card under the Most Valuable Promotions banner got exactly what many expected: a bloody slugfest between Mike Perry and Nate Diaz, followed by a near instantaneous armbar from Ronda Rousey before Gina Carano even got a chance to show off the training she has been doing after 17 years away from the sport.
It was all fairly expected, but that didn’t make it bad. Though Diaz’s corner was forced to stop his fight after the second round because of a nasty cut that opened above his eyes, it was still a treat to see the BMF in the cage again, and it made us even more anxious for the one fight that would complete Diaz’s storied career. As for Rousey, it was good to see one of the best to ever do it finish her fighting career her way. She’s leaving clearly having enjoyed the experience of training and fighting, instead of with a bad taste in her mouth, and that’s worth saluting.
Rousey deserved to have her moment
Whatever your opinion of Rousey, this is a better end to her career than what she had 10 years ago. Her 17-second submission of Carano, which felt like a time machine back to her UFC prime, might have felt anticlimactic after the wall-to-wall fight promo of the past several months, but it also felt right.
You can be anti-Rousey and still acknowledge that she is in the top 5% of most influential figures in MMA history, and you can concede that she deserved her flowers.
Rousey became a star and heavily profited from becoming the face of women’s MMA, but let’s not forget, she never actually set out to be that. Rousey got into MMA because she saw an opportunity to use her judo background to make money. It morphed into something bigger than her and thrust her into a position that she accepted and was good at but was probably never perfect for. She made mistakes and alienated certain pockets of fans, but it was always sad that her relationship with the sport crumbled and turned so bitter.
I was happy for Rousey on Saturday. She had a massive impact on the sport, and now she can remember it fondly, in a way she hasn’t been able to for the past decade.
Diaz wants to fight everyone, but his next performances need to be better
And he knows this. He started his postfight news conference with an admission that he didn’t feel good in the fight and might have underestimated the physical demands of his first MMA appearance in more than three years. It wasn’t a bad performance, but it wasn’t a good one, either. Diaz isn’t going to like me saying this, because he likely thinks he could go out and win the UFC’s lightweight and welterweight titles tomorrow if given the opportunity. But if he doesn’t look markedly better in his next fight, it’s going to be hard not to wonder if there is a point in him continuing to fight.
Watching Diaz lose so much blood that he couldn’t continue after the second round showed me that there needs to be a real reason for him risk that kind of damage again.
For me, an immediate rematch with Perry doesn’t fit that requirement. I don’t need to see that fight again; it’s not necessary. But Diaz has earned the right to say what he wants, and it won’t be surprising if MVP gets behind his wishes. The rematch had better look a lot different, though. Otherwise Diaz will run the risk of finding himself in the “this is uncomfortable to watch” territory. He’s always going to want to fight. That mentality is what made him so beloved in the combat world. But if this is what it looks like, I won’t want to see it anymore.
MVP and Netflix getting into the MMA business is great. I hope that one byproduct of it, however, is that we don’t lose the Diaz vs. Conor McGregor trilogy. Diaz has stated before that the UFC was interested in booking it but Diaz turned it down in favor of being a part of Saturday’s event. I don’t know how many more fights truly make sense for Diaz, but I do know the McGregor trilogy is one of them. All of this will flush itself out over time, but without question, the way Diaz looks in his next fight — regardless of whether he wins or loses — will be very important.
