Daniel Cormier and Ben Askren did not hold back while reacting to the first MVP MMA card on Netflix, criticizing everything from the matchmaking to the quality of the matches themselves.
Askren began by taking aim at how lopsided the entire event felt.
“Incredibly one-sided was the biggest thing that comes to mind,” he said. “There wasn’t a singular match that was moderately competitive on the card.”
He explained that while highlight finishes and knockouts matter, fans ultimately want competitive bouts more than anything.
“We need the highlights, we need the knockouts, we need these spectacular things,” Askren said. “But the best thing we can get is a back-and-forth matchup.”
Cormier agreed and compared MVP MMA’s approach to boxing matchmaking, arguing that the strategy does not work as well in MMA.
“It’s not boxing,” he said. “In boxing, you build athletes by them kind of crushing people that aren’t on their level necessarily, but so many of these athletes on that card were already established stars.”
The issue is that many of the names featured are already near the end of their careers. “They’re on the back end of their careers,” he said. “So there is no star building.”
Cormier stated that the card lacked meaningful competition. “For me, it felt like they should have had the opportunity to compete someone in somewhat of a competitive match,” Cormier said.
The discussion then shifted to Francis Ngannou, with Askren pointing out that the former UFC heavyweight champion continues to face the same issue outside the UFC: a lack of opponents capable of truly challenging him.
“Francis is in the exact same situation where he’s got no one that can really compete against him,” Askren said. “And you need that to build the star.”
Cormier echoed that sentiment, saying Ngannou still looks levels above the competition despite being 39 years old.
“It still feels like a smaller version of what you’re seeing on Saturday nights inside of the octagon,” Cormier said. “But they can’t compete against him because he’s still too good even though he’s 39 years old.”
When it came to the Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano main event, neither man sounded impressed with the finish.
Askren revealed that several people even questioned whether the result was legitimate.
“It honestly, people think like a highlight knockout or highlight finish is the ideal, but I think that was the opposite of ideal,” Askren said. “I had four friends text me that it was fixed or some form of that was scripted or planned.”
Cormier focused more on the technical side of the matchup, criticizing Carano’s defensive reactions during the armbar sequence.
“It wasn’t low-level skill by Rhonda. It was low-level defense by Gina,” he said. “If Gina’s defense was a little better, Ronda would have possibly had to do something different.”
Cormier then broke down exactly what happened in the submission. “She just sat off to the side and arm barred her,” he said.
The co-main event between Nate Diaz and Mike Perry also drew criticism, particularly regarding how one-sided the match appeared. “Mike Perry was just teeing off on him,” Askren said.
Cormier added that Perry never seemed threatened by anything coming back his way. “It just didn’t feel like Mike felt any danger coming back in his direction,” he said.
Looking at the bigger picture, both former stars questioned whether MVP MMA has a realistic long-term path to competing with the UFC.
“If you’re going to try to overtake something, it can’t be on the back of people that were built in that thing that you’re trying to overtake,” Cormier said. “You have to have a great product inside of the cage.”
He ultimately questioned whether the debut card delivered that. “And I don’t know if the Netflix card last night had that,” Cormier said.
Askren, meanwhile, said he still hopes the promotion succeeds because MMA benefits from having competition, even if the road ahead is extremely difficult.
“I hope they keep going,” Askren said. “I think a competitor in the mixed martial arts space is actually effective, but they need to develop something different.”
