Nakisa Bedarian was four and a half years into building Most Valuable Promotions when he sat down beside Jake Paul on Saturday night and addressed the room that had watched Ronda Rousey close her career on Netflix.
"We're incredibly satisfied, happy, elated with what tonight ended up being — which was an electric performance from every single fighter on the card and a tremendous finish to what may be the end of Ronda Rousey's career," Bedarian said. "Very, very appreciative for her coming to Jake and I, trusting in us to do this. This is just the start. We're looking to get more structurally into MMA going forward."
The co-founder bristled at any framing that put MVP in direct rivalry with the UFC.
"We are four and a half years old," Bedarian said. "Look at any other company in the history of combat sports that's been in business for four and a half years old. Compare us to that. We've never said we're a competitor with another organisation. We actually said we can't compete at this point. We're too young. We funded it ourselves — no outside capital — but through hard work, dedication and good intentions, we're in a great place, and more to come."
Bedarian also revealed that Rousey had walked into the cage carrying an injury picked up two weeks before fight night.
"It was a storybook ending if this is the end of her book as a fighter," he said. "To do her fourth finish under 35 seconds — never been done by a male or female. Three was already the record. Now it's four. And she should share with you the injury that she had two and a half weeks ago. If people were paying attention after the open workout, she was limping."
"I didn't know about it until Wednesday when I saw that, and she said, 'I eat injuries for breakfast. I got this.'"
The co-promoter saved his strongest praise for Carano, whose return after a long absence framed the entire fight week narrative.
"What an incredible story of perseverance, fighting through getting cancelled," Bedarian said. "My partner here, they've tried to cancel him at least 47 times in the past 10 years. Persevered through it. Gina showed you how you persevere through that. She's just getting started. She lost 100 pounds, got into athletic shape. Now she has to decide if she wants to be an athlete again. I think she has the opportunity to."
Bedarian floated Holly Holm as a potential next opponent for either of Saturday's headliners.
Paul, sitting beside him, added his own assessment of the seventeen-second finish.
"Gina is a warrior. We want to see more," Paul said. "As a fan, it's bittersweet, right? She comes in with the armbar and finishes it really fast. It's historic, that's her signature move. But I also would have loved to see them standing up engaging in the fight. This is the fight world. You never know what's going to happen."
MVP MMA has yet to announce its next event. The model, Bedarian said, will continue to favour storytelling over schedule volume — even if the UFC is now actively scheduling around them.
