Jake Paul, co-owner of Most Valuable Promotions (MVP), might be the official promoter for the fight between Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano on Netflix. However, ‘The Arm Collector’ has been making headlines since the fight was announced, taking center stage and getting the word out there that she is coming back to action. 

This appears to have inspired her to explore a new role within the combat sports world. Speaking to Geek Vibes Nation ahead of her fight on May 16 at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, the former UFC bantamweight champion has revealed she may follow in the footsteps of UFC CEO Dana White and become one of his biggest rivals.

“I mean, I think this is really my audition to see if they would like me to be in that role,” Rousey said during the interview. “I think that, honestly, nobody’s more capable than I am and that I would do an incredible job. I’ve basically been Dana’s apprentice this whole time, and I’ve followed him around and seen how he does it. And Nakisa [Bidarian] has been an incredible partner, and so has Jake. 

“And I think if they want to have me on in that role, I would love to inhabit it. But we’ll see how this goes, and we’ll see if we can work something out.”

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While Ronda Rousey claims to have learned how to promote an event from Dana White, she has been taking shots at his promotion lately. Although her target hasn’t been the UFC CEO himself, she has made her disdain of Chief Business Officer Hunter Campbell explicit. Rousey understands that gone are the days when White was controlling the promotion. 

Even though White still serves as the CEO, since Endeavor’s takeover, which owns the majority share in TKO Group, the parent company of the UFC, Campbell dictates what happens within the promotion. And more often than not, Rousey believes the promotion now has only their own bottom line in mind. Perhaps that’s the reason the former bantamweight champion made this bold claim. 

Ronda Rousey believes MVP MMA can overtake the UFC

The 39-year-old is confident that a new path in MMA could challenge the sport’s current power structure. And she believes MVP MMA has a major role to play in that regard. Speaking to TMZ Sports, ‘The Arm Collector’ clarified she is way more qualified to run a promotion than Campbell. 

“I mean, I think nobody is more qualified than me,” she said. “I’m definitely more qualified than Hunter f—king Campbell. I think that MVP would be an incredible partner and that Nakisa [Bidarian] and Jake Paul really believe in making sure the fighters are compensated fairly.

“The sport is at a crossroads… [If] this event is a huge success, there’s a huge opportunity to take over the market share in MMA and show everybody what they’ve been missing… People don’t tune in to see a belt… They tune in to see characters that they know and love.”

Yet the major part of her upcoming event’s success depends on the broadcaster, rather than the promoter. Netflix has billions of users, who will tune in naturally since they already possess a subscription. But it’s arguable whether the event would have been successful if it were on any other platform. 

In the UFC-Paramount deal, for example, Paramount bought the rights so they can attract more users to its platform. But that’s not the case with Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano. So, if Rousey and MVP really want to compete with the UFC, they desperately need Netflix, which, by the way, wanted the broadcast rights for UFC’s numbered events. 

It looks like Ronda Rousey has big plans after her fight against Gina Carano. However, only time will tell whether those plans succeed or end up like the tail end of her UFC career.