The Night Jake Paul & Netflix Made Boxing an Afterthought

This past weekend was supposed to belong to boxing. The UK’s bare-knuckle scene roared in Manchester, and in Virginia, Top Rank launched its brand-new DAZN partnership with a card stacked with stars of the future. By Sunday morning, however, the fight world was talking about one thing only: Jake Paul. Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions made its mixed martial arts debut on Netflix on Saturday, 16 May 2026, and it didn’t so much arrive as detonate. Ronda Rousey submitted Gina Carano with a vintage armbar in just 17 seconds, while Mike Perry stopped Nate Diaz by bloody TKO at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles. Francis Ngannou, the former UFC heavyweight king, needed only a single round to flatten Philipe Lins. The show was a spectacle — and a ratings smash. “Multiple athletes on this card alone could headline their own card,” declared MVP co-founder Nakisa Bidarian. Meanwhile, in Manchester, Paulie Malignaggi’s bare-knuckle outing was turning into a painful footnote. The 45‑year‑old former world champion was knocked out cold by Filipino champion Rolando Dy, who retained his BKB super‑welterweight strap in brutal fashion. Top Rank’s first DAZN card saw Keyshawn Davis cruise to a lopsided unanimous decision over Nahir Albright – a competent, but hardly pulse‑raising, display. Neither event could compete with the noise coming from Los Angeles. Dana White, apparently determined to claw back the news cycle, dropped a bombshell of his own during the MVP broadcast: Conor McGregor would return to headline UFC 329 against Max Holloway on 11 July in Las Vegas. The timing — right as Ngannou walked to the cage — was no accident. Paul called White “an insecure little boy trying to piggyback off our event”. Yet even that headline‑grabbing power play failed to knock MVP off its axis. “Drop it during our event, does it matter?” Paul shrugged. In the end, Saturday night didn’t belong to bare-knuckle bravery, a polished Top Rank showcase, or even a returning Irish megastar. It belonged to Jake Paul and Netflix — and the entire combat‑sports landscape felt the tremor. Photo credit: Most Valuable Promotions

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