Nakisa Bidarian and Most Valuable Promotions aren’t shying away from a fight.

Last week, Bidarian and his business partner Jake Paul announced that MVP was merging with the PFL for a new combat sports promotion. The merger will complete in 2027, with the two products operating under the MVP banner, and for Bidarian, there’s a very clear mission statement for what they hope to achieve.

“The opportunity is very clear: a fighter-first platform that prioritizes the fans,” Bidarian told TMZ Sports. “And more and more you’re seeing that the incumbent within the space doesn’t prioritize building fighter IP, but prioritizes the company’s IP, which is great business, but don’t get me wrong, you have to make fighters feel like they’re the priority. That’s what our platform has always been about.”

Bidarian is the co-founder of MVP, and as such, has had a major hand in promoting some of the biggest combat sports events of the past five years, including MVP MMA 1 earlier this year, headlined by Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano, which broke U.S. viewership records.

Bidarian also knows the UFC intimately, starting his combat sports career as their Chief Strategy Officer in 2011, before becoming CFO in 2016. He left the UFC after overseeing the sale of the company to Endeavor, and linked up with Paul a few years later, starting MVP. And while Bidarian usually keeps things respectful with his old employers, as he and Paul prepare to challenge the global structure of MMA promotion, Bidarian allowed himself to be a bit more pointed in his criticism of the UFC today.

“I had the privilege of being at the UFC as Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Financial Officer and learned many great things,” Bidarian said. “They’re the best promotional entity in the world. But I also saw what things I would do better. I think his reaction to our deal is in the same weekend where a reporter asked him, ‘What fight are you most excited about?’ and he said to that reporter, ‘That’s a stupid question. Of course, the main event, and I’m hoping to see a few holy shit moments.’ That’s the irreverence of what that has become in terms of fighters and the product.

“We are definitely not at the level of the UFC today. No way. They’re in the business for 30-plus years. We’ve been in the business for less than five years. But we’ve put on bigger events than they have … The biggest event in the history of modern combat sports was put on by MVP. When it comes to MMA, we’ve done the same thing: biggest event in U.S. history. So we’re a force to be reckoned with. And as Jake has publicly said, what they’re doing behind the scenes to try to hurt our business, hurt our ability to market, is very different than what they say publicly.”

Paul and MVP rose to prominence primarily on the back of Paul’s influencer boxing, but also for the way Paul directly attacked UFC CEO Dana White on issues like fighter pay and medical care. And for their big push into MMA, that is a cornerstone issue for MVP, with Bidarian saying they want fighters to get “the vast majority” of the revenue generated from their events. And in the long run, Bidarian hopes this policy, plus their own promotional expertise with fundamentally change MMA.

“I think Jake said last week, there’s Nike and Adidas,” Bidarian said. “There’s Coke and Pepsi. We want it to be UFC and MVP. We’re not fooling ourselves to say we’re going to be the reference brand for the sport in the next year or two, but give us a little bit of time. Let our expertise in Gen Z and Gen Alpha continue to show you how we differentiate from that existing platform that is the reference brand for the sport.

“In the history of sports, there hasn’t been a new entrant that’s come in and put on an event that’s been as big, if not bigger than the incumbent events that they’ve ever put on. … So we know we’ve done something that’s unique, it’s different, there’s a market demand for it.”

TOP STORIES

Competition. UFC owners welcome competition from new MVP-PFL combined company: ‘A rising tide lifts all boats.’

Fights. Joshua Van vs. Alexandre Pantoja 2, Arman Tsarukyan vs. Mauricio Ruffy set as full UFC 331 card revealed.

Retired. Jake Paul tries to coax Khabib Nurmagomedov out of retirement for MVP; Khabib responds.

Commentary. Robert Whittaker calls Joe Rogan’s UFC 329 fight commentary ‘upsetting.’

GOAT. Islam Makhachev’s coach argues a win at UFC 330 puts him in consideration as the greatest of all-time.

VIDEO STEW

Tune in to Between the Links today.

UFC Vegas 120 Media Day.

UFC Journey for the main event this weekend.

Volk is in fight camp.

SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

Damn, man.

Call out.

Making moves.

Making a pitch.

Statement.

FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Chidi Njokuani (25-12) vs. Joel Alvarez (23-4); UFC 330, Aug. 15.

Joshua Van (17-2) vs. Alexandre Pantoja (30-6); UFC 331, Sep. 19.

Arman Tsarukyan (23-3) vs. Mauricio Ruffy (14-2); UFC 331, Sep. 19.

Ryan Gandra (10-1) vs. Ozzy Diaz (10-4); UFC 331, Sep. 19.

Casey O’Neill (11-2) vs. Eduarda Moura (12-2); UFC 331, Sep. 19.

Edmen Shahbazyan (16-6) vs. Brunno Ferreira (15-4); UFC 331, Sep. 19.

Tai Tuivasa (14-10) vs. Robelis Despaigne (6-2); UFC 331, Sep. 19.

Gable Steveson (4-0) vs. Sean Sharaf (4-2); UFC 331, Sep. 19.

Iwo Baraniewski (9-0) vs. Alonzo Menifield (18-6-1); UFC 331, Sep. 19.

Giga Chikadze (15-6) vs. Joanderson Brito (19-5-1); UFC 331, Sep. 19.

Michael Aswell Jr. (11-5) vs. Joo Sang Yoo (9-1); UFC 331, Sep. 19.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Bout time we finally got the 331 fights announced. I know we all heard the rumors, but good to have them. And Arman vs. Ruffy was a shocker. But it’s a good fight.

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