Ronda Rousey has continued her counter-programming to the UFC, as she gears up for one of the biggest nights of her career this weekend in Netflix’s debut MMA event.

Rousey vs. Carano kicks off Netflix’s foray into MMA, alongside Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions. The card features familiar favorites in Nate Diaz, Mike Perry, and Francis Ngannou. UFC maintains such a strong foothold on the MMA ladder that fans and pundits alike are hoping MVP MMA 1 is a massive success.

With over 300 million Netflix subscribers, it’s hard to imagine anything but a success.

That hasn’t stopped Rousey from using her position to disparage the UFC as much as possible. Earlier in her promotional run, Rousey scorned UFC exec Hunter Campbell, and now she’s suggesting that up-and-coming fighters not join the UFC.

Ronda Rousey says budding fighters should avoid UFC

Speaking on the Pound 4 Pound podcast with former UFC champions Henry Cejudo and Kamaru Usman, Rousey explained why she believes hopeful fighters should stay off the world stage at least until they’ve built their own brand.

“I would say that UFC is not in the business of developing fighters, and you do not go into the UFC to develop,” Rousey said. “You go into the UFC when you are ready for your title run. . . . I think you should come into the UFC when you already have leverage.

“And not come in when you’re super green because they’re not gonna give you the best matchups. They’re looking out for the company, not looking out for you. And so if you stay outside the UFC, you can pick and choose your matchups . . . Because you’re gonna be a cog in the wheel, you’re being thrown to the wolves once you jump in.

“You shouldn’t jump into there until you’re ready to take over the whole pack.”

Rousey touched on restrictive contracts, such as those offered by The Ultimate Fighter. As of 2025, the minimum pay for a starting UFC fighter is $12k to show and $12k to win, and fighters are often signed to multi-fight deals, which would require negotiation to increase payouts.

Bearing in mind, UFC fighters under contract cannot compete for other promotions without UFC’s say-so. Which is why it’s so baffling for UFC’s biggest stars, like Alex Pereira, to announce eight-fight deals with the UFC when their bargaining power in a free MMA market would net them tens of millions.

Netflix’s debut event features UFC fighters who broke free of this practice, and the promotion claims to address the issue of fighter pay.

MVP MMA is looking to improve MMA fighter pay beyond what UFC offers

Speaking at the MVP MMA press conference, Rousey revealed their fighters are guaranteed $40,000, win or lose. Abandoning the win/lose clause is one way to double the payouts for at least half of the card.

“Even if they [the fighters] don’t have a big long record, and even if they lose [they take home] $40,000,” Rousey remarked. “And if you fight three times in a year, that is much more than a living wage. And that is something that the UFC cannot say.”

MVP co-founder Nakisa Bidarian also guaranteed that MVP fighters will make a minimum $40,000 purse during a talk with Ariel Helwani. He went on to confirm that MVP fighters will receive 50% of the revenue, similar to other major league sports promotions. For comparison, UFC was found to have shared below 20% of its revenue in past years.

“[The revenue share] is much higher than 50% to the fighters,” Bidarian confirmed. “Our objective is not to lose money and obviously make a little bit of money, but it’s really about putting the money back into the pockets of the fighters.”

Of course, talk is talk. MVP MMA will have to put its money where its mouth is, and their debut event on Netflix this Saturday is a major gamble — one that must pay off in order to keep the momentum growing. Take everything with a pinch of salt.

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