Most Valuable Promotions and Netflix hosted their first MMA card last weekend. And it drew mixed reactions from fans and analysts alike. However, former UFC stars Daniel Cormier and Ben Askren shared one common criticism of the event: the noticeable lack of competitive matchups. And they didn’t shy away from scrutinizing it in Cormier’s YouTube video.
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“I mean, incredibly one-sided was the biggest thing that comes to mind,” Askren said. “There wasn’t a singular fight that was moderately competitive on the card. We need the highlights. We need the knockouts. We need these spectacular things. But the best thing we can get is a back-and-forth fight.”
Ben Askren‘s opinion lands correctly for more than one fight. Robelis Despaigne vs. Junior dos Santos finished within three minutes of the first round. Kenneth Cross vs. Salahdine Parnasse also failed to get past the first round. And coming to the biggest fights on the card, Francis Ngannou fought someone most people haven’t even heard about.
🤔DC and Ben Askren criticise MVP MMA event, saying all the fights were one-sided “Incredibly one sided is the biggest thing that comes to mind. There wasn’t a singular fight that was moderately competitive” via @dc_mma
The former UFC heavyweight champion made easy work of Philipe Lins and won the fight in the first round. Even in the one that went past the first round, like Nate Diaz vs. Mike Perry, Diaz had taken so much beating that it opened up cuts, and he bled profusely, leading to the fight’s stoppage after the second round.
And most of all, the headlining bout between Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano lasted a measly 17 seconds. The skill gap between the fighters was cavernous. Even though Rousey hadn’t fought in a decade, she was clearly training for the fight. Whereas Gina Carano appeared to have rolled out of bed after two decades out of the sport.
Who in their right mind would have matched these fighters in the first place? Not to mention, there were no rankings—longtime established names fought nobodies or someone clearly out of their prime, something Cormier highlighted.
“It’s not boxing, right? In boxing, you build athletes by [having them crush] people [who] aren’t on their level necessarily,” Cormier said. “But so many of these fighters on that card were already established stars, right? They’re on the back end of their careers. So there is no star building… It felt like they should have had the opportunity to fight someone in somewhat of a competitive fight.”
This prompted Askren to point out something crucial for one of the fighters on Saturday’s card.
Ben Askren points out the grim reality for Francis Ngannou
Ben Askren highlighted that when a promotion like the UFC controls most of the sport’s top talent, skilled fighters competing elsewhere often struggle to find quality opponents who can truly test and validate their dominance. More importantly, though, he felt that Francis Ngannou would face that exact problem moving forward.
“That was one of my big issues when Dana wouldn’t sign me in 2013,” Askren said. “And then I went to ONE Championship. So I was thinking of Francis. And this has been Francis’ problem ever since he left the UFC… You need dance partners. And when I left Bellator and went to ONE Championship, I just didn’t have anyone who could really fight with me.
“So it was hard to build it, you know? And Francis is in the exact same situation where he’s got no one that can really fight with him. And you need that to build a star.”
Unfortunately for Ngannou, a return to the UFC appears highly unlikely. Not only has his relationship with the promotion and CEO Dana White been in ruins, but he is now aligned with Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions—a man not exactly in White’s good books.
He recently asked Jon Jones to exit the latter’s contract with the UFC to face him. However, it’s clearly going to be very difficult for him to do that, especially since he is also on bad terms with the promotion.
At the end of the day, the MVP MMA card was put together only to draw massive views. Matchmaking didn’t appear to be part of the process; it was just what they thought would sell.
