(BroBible)
Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano, promoted by Jake Paul and streamed on Netflix, has become the most-watched MMA event in history, surpassing all previous UFC viewership records. The fight card drew record numbers that no traditional UFC event has matched.
Jake Paul just outrated the UFC. I need everyone to sit with that for a second.
Rousey vs. Carano on Netflix is now the most-watched MMA event of all time. Not most-watched Netflix event. Not most-watched women’s fight. Most-watched MMA event. All time. Every number Dana White has ever bragged about at a press conference is now second place to a card promoted by a YouTube boxer in a backwards hat.
Dana spent twenty years building the UFC into a legitimate sports empire and Jake Paul walked in, put two retired fighters on a streaming platform, and lapped him. Shockingly, this does not surprise me even a little.
The UFC’s business model for the last decade has basically been: charge fans forty dollars for a pay-per-view, water down the card, and then act personally offended when viewership dips. Jake Paul’s model is: put it on Netflix, make it an event, and let the algorithm do the rest. One of these guys understood where eyeballs actually live in 2025 and one of them is Dana White.
Alas, the sport belongs to the YouTuber now. I don’t know what else to tell you.
