UFC Hall of Famer Ronda Rousey came out on top in her comeback fight against Gina Carano on Saturday night, submitting Carano with an armbar 17 seconds into the MVP MMA 1 main event on Netflix.
Mike Perry earned the biggest win of his career in the co-main event, pummeling former UFC star Nate Diaz en route to a corner stoppage after the second round. Additionally, former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou returned from a 19-month layoff, knocking out Philipe Lins in the first round.
With Most Valuable Promotions' first MMA event in the books, here are five takeaways from a wild night at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California.
Rousey-Carano was anticlimactic, but we probably should've expected that
When a highly anticipated fight ends as quickly as Rousey-Carano did, it often feels like a letdown.
We waited months - or years, depending on how you look at it - to see these two women's MMA legends square off. And before we even had a chance to digest that Rousey and Carano were back in the cage for the first time in 10 and 17 years, respectively, Rousey had already gotten on top of Carano and locked in the armbar.
It would've been nice to see the fight last a little longer - even if that just meant Carano moving around the cage a bit before Rousey got her to the ground - especially since Rousey doesn't plan to fight again and Carano is iffy about her own future in the sport.
That said, we probably should've seen this coming.
Rousey has won most of her fights this exact way, even at the peak of her career when she was defending the UFC women's bantamweight title against formidable challengers. In 13 professional MMA wins, this was her seventh armbar in under a minute. It's her signature move.
So when Rousey got booked to face a 44-year-old who hadn't fought since 2009, this was always the most likely outcome. A 17-second armbar shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone.
If you missed the Strikeforce era, you basically just experienced a Strikeforce card. A little one-way matchmaking, a couple brutal knockouts, and Ronda Rousey taking some poor woman's arm home in 20 seconds.
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) May 17, 2026
Might be time for Diaz to hang up the gloves
Diaz isn't retiring after losing to Perry in devastating fashion in his MMA comeback fight. He made that very clear at the postfight press conference, saying "this shit is forever" and that he has "a lot of shit to do" in the sport.
But at 41 years old, Diaz might want to sit down and think a bit more seriously about his future.
Diaz took an atrocious amount of damage in Saturday's fight. He absorbed heavy punches from start to finish, and his face was covered in blood when he went back to his corner at the end of the second round. It was so bad that Diaz said afterward he was "blinded by blood on the right side."
I know it's not a Nate Diaz fight if he isn't bleeding, but at what point do we start to worry about his long-term health? Diaz will keep getting fight offers because he's one of the most popular fighters in MMA history. But I personally don't need to see him fight again, and I think it would be wise for Diaz to really think about whether he needs to fight again after all that he's accomplished.
Ngannou still an elite heavyweight
There wasn't much doubt that Ngannou would beat Lins. He was a -2000 betting favorite and had basically every advantage. But any time a fighter in his late 30s returns from a long layoff, you have to wonder if he'll perform up to previous standards.
As it turns out, Ngannou bulldozed his way past Lins in his first fight since October 2024, flooring the former UFC light heavyweight with a left hook in the opening round. In case there was any doubt going in, Ngannou reminded the world with this performance that he's still one of the best heavyweights walking the planet.
Despaigne-Dos Santos didn't need to happen
Robelis Despaigne was a big favorite in his fight against former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos, and it didn't take long to see why. Despaigne, an Olympic bronze medalist in taekwondo, battered Dos Santos with punches and then knocked him out in the first round. It was a dangerous mismatch and tough to watch. MVP's matchmakers should've left this one in the drafts.
UFC's McGregor announcement missed the mark
Apparently UFC CEO Dana White thought it would be a good idea to announce Conor McGregor's return fight on Instagram Live during Ngannou's walkout. Maybe he wanted to get back at Ngannou for being a "bad guy" or steal the thunder from Jake Paul's first MMA show on Netflix. Either way, it didn't work, and it just made the UFC look foolish for announcing one of the biggest fights of the year when nobody was paying attention.
