The PFL is merging with Most Valuable Promotions to create a combat sports conglomerate with plans to promote both boxing and MMA events, and MVP co-founder Jake Paul has already said the new company is absolutely gunning to take down the UFC as the top organization in the sport.
Paul has rarely missed opportunities to take aim at the UFC over restrictive contracts, fighter pay, and numerous other issues, and he believes the new MVP can serve as serious opposition moving forward. But UFC CEO Dana White already brushed off the merger and repeatedly stated that his organization is focused on real competition like the NFL, the NBA and Major League Baseball and there’s no combat sports promotion that can even come close to rivaling the business they’ve built.
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Retired UFC welterweight knockout king Matt Brown seems to agree with White, which is why he believes Paul and company at MVP are already fighting an uphill battle after making a splash with this merger.
“I certainly think it’s a smart thing for both of those companies to do,” Brown said about the merger on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer. “Come together, join forces, try to build something big. Unfortunately, they’re in a space where they’re still just going to be No. 2. They might get closer. Right now they’re kind of a distant No. 2, they might shred some space off of that distance, but they’re still just going to be No. 2. You’re not getting anywhere near the UFC.
“I agree with what [Dana White] said — ‘we’re competing with major leagues and shit, we’re not worried about what these peasants are doing’ so to speak. He didn’t say it like that, but I think he’s totally right in saying that.”
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As much as Brown likes the idea of MVP presenting more opportunities for fighters, including the potential to pay more money and raise the standards for overall pay in the industry, he also knows that taking direct aim at the UFC is a mistake.
The UFC is the biggest MMA promotion by a wide margin with a massive $7.7 billion broadcast deal with Paramount and the kind of financial backing that no one can really challenge in combat sports. MVP may have earned some deserved attention for the company’s first MMA card back in May that featured UFC Hall of Famer Ronda Rousey in her comeback fight that aired on Netflix, but it’s effectively impossible to maintain that level of success going forward.
But that card is an anomaly and now Paul and company are going to have to try to go head-to-head with the UFC on a consistent basis and that’s just not a winning formula for longterm success.
“They’re trying to fight a dick-swinging contest with the UFC, right?” Brown said. “When you’re trying to outspend or try to get better fighters. You don’t have a chance. What I see MVP and PFL trying to do is a d*ck-swinging contest and it’s like you’ve got a f*cking limp d*ck over here.
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“The Jake Paul’s and the MVP’s and the PFL’s of the world, it’s seemingly that they don’t understand all this stuff. It seems like they don’t. They try to get in this d*ck-swinging contest with Dana White. You’re barking up the wrong tree.”
Taking away the financial struggles anyone is going to face going after the UFC, the other problem is brand recognition.
The UFC has spent over 30 years becoming the biggest promotion in combat sports and that comes with a certain cache that’s now built in with fighters. Almost every athlete competing in MMA talks at some point about pursuing a UFC title because that is seen as the highest mark in the industry.
Brown acknowledges that fighters absolutely view the UFC as the gold standard and as such that always gives the promotion a leg up on the competition when it comes to signing free agents or high profile prospects.
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“The fact is in the fighting world, very, very few fighters/athletes are business minded,” Brown explained. “It’s generally younger kids with some f*cking screws loose, that’s why you go into MMA after college or whatever. You’ve got some f*cking screws loose and you want to fight the best of the best. That’s your entire goal as a martial artist, as a fighter. You want to fight the best.
“I guarantee 99.9% of fighters would go fight f*cking Jon Jones for $1,000 rather than f*cking some PFL guy for $50,000. Just for the opportunity, the brand awareness and first and foremost, is just the opportunity to challenge yourself. That’s where fighters’ minds go.”
Rather than attempting to go head-to-head with the UFC, Brown would prefer the new MVP to try to carve out its own lane in combat sports and find success that way.
“The perfect example is BKFC,” Brown said. “They carved out their own lane. They’re not threatening the UFC. The UFC actually works with [David] Feldman and BKFC. They enjoy each other’s company, each other’s business.”
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It’s unlikely that White and the UFC are ever going to openly support a promotion like MVP but that also doesn’t mean Jake Paul and his company need to immediately try to start a war that can’t be won.
“Jake Paul will certainly get them a lot of publicity and promotion,” Brown said. “It will be kind of interesting to see how they play their cards. The MMA card, I’ve argued for a long time is not really the card to play but that seems to be the path they’re going.”
