Most Valuable Promotions was co-founded by Nakisa Bidarian, the former Chief Strategy Officer and CFO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Bidarian alongside rising star Jake Paul has been disrupting the boxing scene for four years and has now had one of the most historic nights the world of combat sports has ever seen.
More news: Netflix is Now Being Sued Over Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson Fight
Netflix streamed Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson live, as the streamer's first-ever live-streaming sporting event. The numbers from the event paint a picture of pure dominance. From MVP:
- The Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson fight is the most-streamed sporting event ever, peaking at 65 million concurrent streams, with 38 million concurrent streams in the US.
- According to TVision, 56% of all US TV viewing between 12 am and 1 am EST was to the Paul vs Tyson fight.
- The Paul-Tyson fight garnered an estimated average minute audience (AMA) of 108 million live viewers globally from opening to closing bell and continued to drive viewing into the weekend with an estimated AMA of 125 million (Live+1).
- The Taylor-Serrano fight averaged an estimated 74 million live viewers globally and became the most-watched professional women's sports event in US history with 47 million AMA in the US.
Bidarian sat down with Newsweek Sports for an exclusive interview, where he divulged more about the numbers from the historic live-streamed event, along with what's in store for MVP and Paul.
When asked where MVP goes from here, Bidarian had a simple answer:
"To the moon, man! We are going to the moon, or Neptune, as I recently said to somebody. We feel very fortunate and grateful that we were able to partner with Netflix a year ago and had a vision for doing something that broke records. The two records that we were focused on were, one, the peacock streaming record in the U.S., which was achieved earlier this year with an NFL playoff game, 23 million streams, we crushed that. Two, the other goal was to put on the biggest women's sporting event in U.S. history in terms of viewership. That was FOX 1999, Women's World Cup on broadcast television. We spanked that."
Paul achieving success against Tyson, despite his age, was no easy feat. Now, with the big win under his name, it appears boxing's biggest stars have now stated they want a shot against "The Problem Child." Bidarian revealed that multiple names have already been considered such as Ryan Garcia, Gervonta Davis, Daniel Dubois, and Artur Beterbiev — who have all called out Paul.
"We have talked about all those names, we've talked about other names. We've talked about the timeline. Ultimately it's up for him to announce and discuss that. I do expect that Jake will fight at least twice in 2025, if not more given his goal to become a world champion."
Interestingly, despite Artur Beterbiev being 18-0, he is one name that Paul and MVP are not considering.
"Artur is not of interest, because he is one of the greatest boxers in the world just like Daniel is, just like Gervonta is, but he hasn't really proven himself at the box office. So, why would Jake go and take that fight? It's really the beginning of an opportunity for Artur to make a massive payday."
With the massive amount of competition that has been challenging Paul, there is one that would make sense from a global standpoint, which is Conor McGregor. Despite the many callouts from Paul, that fight has not come to fruition. However, Bidarian believes that is the only fight that would surpass Paul vs. Tyson.
"I do believe, and I have said this on record. That is the only fight today in the world that could garner the same kind of attention that Jake Paul and Mike Tyson did. I believe there is bigger money fights for Jake Paul, like a Canelo, like a Gervonta Davis cause the U.S. will eat that up and the PPV dollars will be massive. But in terms of hitting every corner of the world, every geography, every language, every creed, every religion, that fight would do that."
For more on Paul's potential move to MMA and WWE, check out the interview above.
And for more news on Jake Paul, head to Newsweek Sports.
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