Nate Diaz is finally returning to the cage. Most Valuable Promotions and Netflix announced Monday that Diaz will face Mike “Platinum” Perry in a five-round welterweight bout on May 16, 2026, at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, completing a triple-headliner card that also features Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano and Francis Ngannou vs. Philipe Lins.
The entire card streams live on Netflix at no extra cost to subscribers, marking the platform’s first MMA broadcast after a growing promotional partnership with MVP on boxing.
For Diaz, it is a return nearly four years in the making. His last MMA fight was a fourth-round submission of Tony Ferguson in the main event of UFC 279 in September 2022, the final bout of his 15-year UFC contract. Since walking away, the 40-year-old Stockton native launched his own boxing outlet, Real Fight Inc., dropped a decision to Jake Paul in 2023, and picked up a win over former UFC rival Jorge Masvidal in 2024. May 16 will be his first cage appearance in close to four years and, notably, his first MMA fight outside the UFC in roughly two decades.
“Glad to be back in action. It’s time,” Diaz said in the official Netflix announcement. “Don’t forget where this all came from. I got plans on doing a lot more in the next 10 years, no matter where it is. Time to set the bar again, so get ready for a new takeover again and again until the end of time.”
Group chats everywhere are about to explode over this one…
— MVP – Most Valuable Promotions (@MostVpromotions) March 16, 2026
🔥 OFFICIAL 🔥@NateDiaz209 🆚 @PlatinumPerry
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Saturday, May 16th
LIVE only on Netflix
Intuit Dome – Los Angeles, CA#DiazPerry #RouseyCarano #NgannouLins pic.twitter.com/eOZEdjgWJ9
Perry comes in from a different trajectory. After going 14-8 in the UFC and leaving the promotion in 2021 on the back of four losses in his final five fights, the self-described “King of Violence” rebuilt his profile across Triad Combat, BKFC, and professional boxing. In bare-knuckle, he became one of the sport’s standout names, collecting wins over Luke Rockhold, Eddie Alvarez, and Michael “Venom” Page along the way before being named BKFC Male Fighter of the Year in 2023. He also stepped into the boxing ring against Jake Paul in 2024, going down by sixth-round knockout, then returned to BKFC and finished Jeremy Stephens by TKO in October 2025. May 16 will mark his return to MMA after a near five-year absence from the cage.
“The King of Violence returns to MMA to elbow his opponent in the f—ing face,” Perry said through the official Netflix announcement. “Saturday, May 16th, on Netflix, Nate Diaz is going lights out.”
Perry confirmed on The Ariel Helwani Show on Tuesday that his payday for the fight will exceed every purse he has collected across any sport or promotion in his career. “Next one’s always the best one, man,” he said. “We always keep grinding, getting better, keep looking to be our best selves, and really show you guys what I can do.”
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Perry also revealed that discussions with MVP started back in early October 2025. He signed a contract and began preparing ahead of a confirmed opponent, with Diaz ultimately becoming the fight. Early odds reflect the gap in recent activity: Perry is installed as a -260 favorite with Diaz sitting at +200.
The bout will be contested under the Unified Rules of MMA over five five-minute rounds at welterweight, inside a hexagon cage. Diaz carries a 22-13 record featuring 14 submission victories; Perry has gone 14-8 in MMA with 11 finishes by knockout. The contrast in finishing styles is one of several intriguing dimensions to the matchup. Diaz’s jiu-jitsu, a key part of his UFC career output, becomes far more relevant in the cage than it would have been had the two met in a boxing ring. Perry’s comfort in compressed, physical exchanges — sharpened considerably through his BKFC run — translates well to smaller MMA gloves.
The fight had been a topic of discussion in fan circles for years. Perry publicly called for it in 2022 not long after both men had exited the UFC, and the idea resurfaced again in 2025 when a potential boxing matchup between them began circulating. Staging it under full MMA rules on a global platform gives it a different weight entirely.
That platform is at the center of everything on May 16. MVP co-founder and CEO Nakisa Bidarian positioned the card as the next chapter in the company’s push beyond boxing. “MVP delivered the most-viewed boxing event since the advent of cable, and now we’re set to break records again with the biggest viewership in MMA history,” Bidarian said. “Nate Diaz is the Real BMF, and Mike Perry is the King of Violence. This will be a war from the first press conference all the way to the end when one of them has their hand raised.”
Netflix VP of Sports Gabe Spitzer echoed that framing. “After the record-breaking success in boxing, we wanted our first MMA event to be truly legendary,” Spitzer said. “Having them headline our MMA debut at the Intuit Dome is a defining moment for us.”
MVP was co-founded in 2021 by Jake Paul and Bidarian, a former UFC executive. Its Netflix relationship stretches back to the Paul vs. Mike Tyson boxing event, which the promotion billed as the most-watched boxing broadcast since the cable era. This show, the company’s first full MMA card, extends that strategy into the cage.
The rest of the card adds its own weight. Rousey has not competed in MMA since December 2016, when Amanda Nunes stopped her in 48 seconds at UFC 207. Carano’s last professional fight came even earlier, in 2009, when Cris Cyborg finished her in a Strikeforce featherweight title bout. Their May 16 bout is scheduled at featherweight, 145 pounds. At the top of the undercard, Ngannou steps back into the cage for the first time since leaving the UFC in 2023, facing former PFL heavyweight tournament champion Philipe Lins.
Rousey, speaking at the press conference for the event, did not mince words about her former home. “They’re bleeding talent because of their short-term greed,” she said of the UFC. “They’re thinking about the next quarter. They’re thinking about the shareholders and not thinking about their responsibility to be stewards of the future of the sport.”
As for Perry’s future beyond May 16, he is keeping the door open in multiple directions. “I guess there are options here, right?” he said. “With a victory, for me, depending on what MVP’s MMA is looking like. I take it one fight at a time.”
Tickets for the event are available now through Ticketmaster.
