Nakisa Bidarian Talks Rousey, MMA & MVP's Future

We are here with Nikisa Bedarian, co-founder of MVP Promotions.

I'm sure you've had a lot of time to reflect on the success of the event in Los Angeles.

Had a lot of uh discussions internally there at MVP.

What would you say you're most proud of, uh, coming out of last weekend now that you've had some time to reflect?

Most proud of our team for delivering yet another record-breaking event for a company that was doing its first MMA event.

In a space that has a powerful endemic brand like the UFC.

If you look at the history of sports, I think it's hard to identify.

A space where there is a reference brand for that sport and another player comes in and delivers something that captures an audience at the size that we did.

If you look at football, American football, and what's been tried to have been done with other leagues, never replicated.

You look at basketball, never been replicated, and even the fact that it's on Netflix.

It doesn't mean just because it's Netflix, it's gonna break records.

If you look at Major League Baseball, they went on Netflix for the first time this year with the Yankees and the Giants opening week.

Phenomenal show, great performance.

Not the biggest viewing of the week, actually, it was NBC and Peacock.

So , Netflix is the starting point of all things amazing from my perspective when it comes to distribution of live content.

But there has to be more there, and I'm proud of our team for what they were able to deliver.

I think when we were at those open workouts at the Venice Beach basketball courts, we asked Rhonda how she would, what she would view as a success, and she mentioned that 9 million number.

I think she actually asked you what the number was there, and you obviously far surpassed that.

Have you, uh, you've obviously had a chance to talk to Rhonda.

How ecstatic were you guys when you saw those viewership numbers come out?

Uh look, it was.

It was expected.

That's what I thought would happen because there'd never been an assembly of talent like we put on that night, and you can argue they're not in the UFC.

They're not in the prime of their careers in terms of the big star names of Rhonda, Gina , Nate.

But when you combine them, you add the best heavyweight in the world in Francis, and then you add great prospect, great contenders, and some legends, and mix it all in together with our ability to execute a fight week that gets people, you know, looking forward to the weekend.

I, I, I knew we were going to get there.

I didn't know how wide.

And look, even if we didn't get there, even if we got close, How crazy is that?

That's incredible.

Like, again, we came into the sport first time and delivered that.

Next month, there's a, there's a big event at the White House.

I hope they beat our number.

They should beat our number.

That's the NFL of mixed martial arts at the White House with the president of the United States who's one of the most famous people in the world promoting the event.

So, you know, it's not, It's not a scenario of, hey, we did this and we hope no one ever beats us.

I expect us to be beaten, and that gives us something to work towards for our next one or the next one, or when Jake Paul makes his debut in MMA.

I'm sure, as, you know, as a founder of MVP you're always looking to get better, and I'm sure you've heard some of the naysayers and criticisms out of there.

Is there one, do you pay attention to that at all?

I'm sure you do, but is there one thing that Maybe critics are saying that really gets under your skin or you're just brushing it all off.

Well, I think there's, there's lots of engagement, right?

Positively and negatively around everything MVP and Jake Paul does.

I will say we pay attention to everything.

We take serious what is real and we laugh at what is not.

What is not real is people saying, The arena was empty.

There was one comment that was made that my wife pointed out where someone said, we're photoshopping people in pictures to make it seem like there was a higher attendance level.

That's stuff we don't pay attention to.

What I pay attention to is, for example, the length of the in-ring interviews and people saying those were too long.

They don't appreciate that's driven by shorter fights and the need to deliver certain other commercial assets, etc.

on the broadcast.

So then, An interview goes longer.

Look at our prelims.

Our prelims were flying by because the fights weren't as fast to start.

And then we got a few knockouts and then it slowed down .

So, the, the programming is a quote-unquote victim of the fights.

I will say we have to think about using some of the earlier content from the night, from the prelims, for example, to fill some of those gaps versus people feeling like they're just sitting there watching a sit-down interview.

I mean, that was one that stuck out to me.

In terms of anything else.

I mean, no, I think I'm, I'm very happy with the outcome.

You know, I, I saw a lot of sentiment around these were uneven matches cause they didn't go that long.

That's like saying Conor McGregor and Jose Aldo was an uneven match cause it went 14 seconds.

Not the case.

Ronda Rousey was a setup, 17 seconds.

If we were gonna set something up, it certainly wouldn't go 17 seconds.

That doesn't allow us to grow our audience.

If that fight went into the 3rd round, the 4th round, we could have been looking at 2022 million viewers, given how main events build in terms of viewership.

So, we're, we're overall very satisfied, always paying attention to the critics trying to get better, but also laughing at some of the stuff that's said.

Well, I was there at the Intuit Dome, I can attest that there was no photoshopping going on.

I actually got a chance to walk down to the floor and I was looking around and I was like, this is a, a big fight feeling environment, so , uh, kudos on that.

Talking about Rhonda, obviously her fight ended, like you said, in 17 seconds, but she also helped promote this event.

Um, and, you know, she wants to go have babies.

Have there been any further discussions on the future of Rhonda and MVP MMA?

We have talked every single day since the event.

We have traded lots of pleasantries and probably a few, I'm having babies.

No, I'm not fighting again, which I respect and honor and understand.

There's also a massive desire on both sides to make sure she's a continuing force within what we do at MVP.

That's on the MMA side for sure, but also on the women's boxing side because she is such an ambassador for combat sports, male or female, and it's because of her that we have this women's boxing platform because she was the light that showed me the way to get us here because she was so dominant as a woman in a man-dominated sport.

So, we, we, yeah, we've been in regular contact.

I'm not hopeful she's gonna fight again, but you never know.

I said to one of our team members, it's not about money, it's about her waking up one day and her and Travis saying, you know what, let me go ahead and do this one more time and close this last chapter that may be a story that she wants to tell differently.

For sure.

Just a few more for me.

I wanna ask you about maybe another de facto promoter of the week, Nate Diaz.

Wherever he goes, I think people are just drawn to him.

Uh, you know, his performance in the cage has been talked about.

He says he wants to come back as a promoter and just as someone who Uh, you know, you obviously have so much respect for Nate.

Do you wanna see Nate fight again?

Do you think that he should?

100%.

That first round was very competitive.

Anyone who watches that and sees differently isn't paying attention or doesn't want to see the truth.

They had great exchanges and Nate had a beautiful takedown.

In the second round, where, by the way, oftentimes Nate kind of dips in the middle rounds and then comes back to life in the 3rd, 4th, 5th round in boxing against Jake Paul.

He came to life in the 9th and 10th round because of his cardio.

In that 2nd round, he got hit pretty hard, but more, you know, more kind of conclusively, he had some pretty massive cuts on the side of his head.

And when you can't see, when you have blood in your eyes, it's very hard to compete.

And that's what happened there and the right decision was made from a safety perspective.

When people talk about, oh, he's just not the same, he's a punching bag, he's talking a certain way.

That's been Nate Diaz's whole life.

That's nothing new.

Yes, he has aged, so you might be seeing it in a different vantage point because you're like, this is a guy who's 41 years old, but I I don't see someone different than I saw 5 or 6 years ago.

I don't see someone different that beat Conor McGregor.

And then the second time I went to a decision with Conor McGregor when he was knocked down, I think 6 times in that fight and got back up.

He wasn't cut.

That's a major difference, right?

Those, those cuts are quite severe.

For sure.

And then I just wanna get your thoughts on the fight of the night, the Pumi Nakuda fight kind of ended in some controversy.

What did you make of that?

Do you think the right decision was made by Herb Herb Dean to, uh, end that?

I think in a close.

Decision like that where it's honestly unclear if Fumi was submitted truly, I think, I think it's hard to make that call.

You have to go to the scorecards.

That's what I would have done.

But I thought they, they both put on a great performance.

It was the fight of the night and Fumi's definitely somebody that we want to continue to work with.

I loved his personality.

I loved his showmanship.

I love what he brought into the cage.

I thought it might be too much for him, right?

That big stage, former champion who beat Mighty Mouse, but no, he, he showed up, he showed out and probably should have gotten the win, right?

That, that was a very close fight.

For sure.

Um, so, just like two more for me.

Scott Coker, an old familiar friend in the MMA world, uh, kinda stole, didn't steal some of your thunder, but he's back.

What are your thoughts on that?

Cause Jake had some thoughts.

I wanted to get what you thought about it.

I honestly don't know why Jake tweeted that.

We, him and I haven't spoken about it.

I do think it's very hard to successfully run a startup combat sports entity.

And that's been proven time and time again, including with Bellator, right, who had a great deal with Showtime.

We have been in a fortunate position at MVP where we've never lost a dollar.

We've been self-funded, and, you know, we, we run a, a very entrepreneurial firm that has done some of the biggest things in the world.

Scott, great legacy in MMA.

Phenomenal track record of identifying talent.

It's just a matter of, uh, is it sustainable, right?

Can you take that talent identification and putting on those events and creating something that actually is cash flow positive.

He obviously has some great investors and I'm most of all excited for the space.

The more folks in the space, in an independent contractor environment, which is what MMA unboxing is, the better, right?

In the big leagues, You have the NFL.

There's a union, there's real bargaining power, there's true split of revenues.

Unless you have that in combat sports, the more options that athletes have, the better.

For sure.

All right, so I, you mentioned Jake in that last, uh, statement.

I think, you, you mentioned his tweet.

Well, I , I did, but I wanna ask you because I think I love the dynamic between you guys, because you guys are obviously similar in your love for the fight game, but a little bit different personality wise, and you just mentioned, how many times a week do you say to yourself, I wish Jake hadn't said or tweeted that.

Not honestly, not often per week, uh, I would say more like when there's like big moments where something.

Out of left wheel hits me in the face in the middle of the night and I wake up and I say, what, what is going on?

Why didn't we talk about this before it went out?

But you have to remember, 1, he's a content creator at heart.

2, a true entrepreneur who started being an entrepreneur at the age of 17.

3, he's still 29 and he's achieved as much as he's achieved.

Again this year, I'm sure he will end up in the Sportico and Forbes top 100, top 50 most highest-paid athletes in the world.

What he has done before the age of 30.

Not just in combat sports, but across like sports in terms of the impact, the influence, the top of the game, in terms of exposure, viewership, dollars-driven, is unprecedented.

So, I'll take a little bit of a roller coaster ride anytime if it's as fun as this has been, and it's been a total blast.

For sure.

2 years from now, what are people saying about MVP MMA specifically?

They're gonna be pretty surprised.

We're working on some very exciting things and my hope is that we are a solidified alternative platform to the incumbent reference brand within the sport , and I am no fool.

We are not competing with the UFC.

They have a, I don't know what it is at this 0.35 36 year head start, 26 years under the Fertittas, and now, uh, Endeavor TKO ownership.

We just did our first MMA event, but I feel pretty good versus where Zufa boxing 12347 are.

I feel pretty good versus where the first Strikeforce show was, where the first PFL show was, where the first UFC show under the Fertittas and Dana was in UFC 30.

It's a great starting point.

I got an amazing email from a, uh, a broadcast talent who wasn't working the show, and it basically said, you know, people have tried before to take a big swing.

And it never has really worked.

You all at MVP took a big swing, and everyone's talking about what's next.

It worked, and I agree, it did work, and it comes back to Rhonda, Gina, Nate, Mike, Philippe, Francis.

The list goes on of all those fighters that delivered for us, and we have an ability to execute at the highest level.

You said you were there.

Venice Beach was a phenomenal activation from my perspective, right?

And it's hard to do that with an open workout where someone's just coming out and hitting pads.

The press conference, you know, 11 media analyst said to me, oh, it was way too long.

I said, but what was important for me was that every fighter got a chance to be on that stage and feel loved, feel appreciation.

And then I just, I love our weigh-ins.

When we do our big weigh-ins and the way we execute it all and produce it, I think are, are second to none.

And yeah, we, we have a, we have a great start and it's now up to us to keep going for sure.

Those rising platforms at the weigh-ins were 10 out of 10 for sure.

Uh, Nikisa Bedarian, thanks so much for your time, man.

We look forward to seeing what's next for MVP MMA.

Thank you, Doug.

Appreciate you.

Have a great weekend.