An estimated 12.4 million people tuned in for Most Valuable Promotions' inaugural MMA event last weekend on Netflix, with viewership peaking at almost 17 million during the main event between Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano, MVP announced Tuesday.
Rousey, a UFC Hall of Famer and former women's bantamweight champion, returned from a 10-year layoff to face Carano, a women's MMA pioneer who hadn't fought since 2009. Rousey submitted Carano with an armbar 17 seconds into the bout.
In the United States, the card averaged 9.3 million viewers and peaked at 11.6 million during Rousey-Carano, making it "the most-watched MMA event ever" in the country, according to MVP. The event marked the first MMA show to stream live on Netflix.
"MVP's first entry into MMA delivered on a massive global scale and exceeded every expectation we had for the launch of this new chapter of our business," MVP co-founders Nakisa Bidarian and Jake Paul said in a statement.
They added: "We are currently reviewing all strategic options to do something very meaningful within MMA on a go-forward basis with a distribution partner like Netflix that shares our vision to create lasting impact."
Also on the MVP MMA 1 card, Mike Perry defeated former UFC star Nate Diaz by corner stoppage, and ex-UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou scored a first-round knockout of Philipe Lins.
