Nate Diaz vs Mike Perry Just Got Announced for the Netflix Card in May

Bro this sport is so unserious lol.

Nate Diaz versus Mike Perry. MMA. Five rounds at welterweight. May 16 on Netflix. On the same Most Valuable Promotions card where Ronda Rousey is fighting Gina Carano and Francis Ngannou is fighting Philipe Lins.

Nate Diaz is 40. He hasn't fought in MMA since he submitted Tony Ferguson in 2022. Mike Perry is 34. He hasn't fought in MMA since he lost to Daniel Rodriguez in the UFC in 2021. Both of them have been doing boxing and bare knuckle since leaving the octagon. And now they're coming back to MMA on the same night against each other, on Netflix.

Okay But the Fight Is Actually Kind of Fire

I know people are going to clown this card and I get it. But if you actually look at Diaz versus Perry as a matchup and not as a meme, this has the potential to be genuinely violent.

Diaz is still Diaz. 22-13, 14 submissions, one of the best chins in UFC history, cardio for days, and that Cesar Gracie jiu-jitsu that has given elite fighters nightmares for over a decade. The 1-2 is still nasty. The Stockton slap is still disrespectful. But he's 40 and hasn't been in a cage in almost four years. His last two fights were boxing matches against Jake Paul (lost by decision) and Masvidal (won by decision). So the real question isn't whether Diaz still has the skills. It's whether the body still lets him use them at this level after this long away.

Perry is a different animal now than the guy who was going .500 in the UFC. Dude went to bare knuckle boxing and turned into a monster. 6-0 in BKFC. KO'd Luke Rockhold in two rounds. TKO'd Eddie Alvarez in two rounds. Beat Jeremy Stephens. Beat Michael Page. Won the "King of Violence" title, which is the most Mike Perry championship name possible.

His quote about the fight: "The King of Violence returns to MMA to elbow his opponent in the f**king face. Saturday, May 16th, on Netflix, Nate Diaz is going lights out."

And Diaz, because he's Diaz: "Glad to be back in action. It's time. Don't forget where this all came from."

Neither of these guys has ever been in a boring fight. That's just facts. Even when Diaz loses, it's entertaining. Even when Perry gets knocked out, it's after he's thrown 150 punches in two rounds. Put them in a cage together for five rounds at 170 and somebody is getting hurt. Probably both of them.

Perry Probably Wins This and Here's Why

I'm not even hating on Diaz here because I've always been a fan. But Perry at 34 coming off consistent competition in bare knuckle is a different proposition than Perry at 29 going .500 in the UFC.

The bare knuckle stuff changed him. When you've been fighting without gloves for years, your hands are conditioned different, your timing is sharper at close range, and you stop being afraid of getting hit because you've already been hit by everything. Perry walks into this fight with that mentality and puts 4-ounce gloves on, those are going to feel like pillows to him.

Diaz's best path to winning is dragging Perry to the ground and submitting him. Perry has never been a great grappler and Diaz is still a black belt. But can a 40 year old Diaz shoot takedowns and work submissions after four years of ring rust? Against a guy who's been in active combat the entire time? That's a big ask.

I've got Perry by TKO somewhere in the middle rounds. He's going to pressure forward, Diaz is going to eat shots that he used to walk through at 28 but might not at 40, and eventually Perry's volume is going to overwhelm whatever Diaz has left in the tank.

But honestly? I've watched enough Diaz fights to know that picking against a Diaz brother is always risky. Those dudes operate on a different frequency. Don't be shocked if Nate catches Perry in a triangle in round four after getting his face beaten in for three rounds. That's just how Diaz fights work.

This Whole Card Is Insane

Can we talk about this full lineup for a second? Because this card is wild.

Main event: Ronda Rousey versus Gina Carano. Rousey hasn't fought since Nunes finished her in 48 seconds in December 2016. Carano hasn't fought since she lost to Cyborg in 2009. That's a combined 26 years since their last fights. And this is the main event of an MMA card on Netflix in 2026.

Co-main: Francis Ngannou versus Philipe Lins. Ngannou left the UFC, boxed Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, and now he's back in MMA fighting a former PFL tournament champion. Not exactly the opponent anyone was asking for but it's Ngannou in a cage so people are going to watch.

And now Diaz versus Perry. Two of the most entertaining fighters the UFC has ever produced, both coming back to MMA after years away from it.

MVP is calling this "the most star studded MMA fight card ever assembled." Name recognition wise, they have a point. Rousey, Ngannou, Diaz, Perry, Carano. That's an absurd amount of star power on one card. But the actual competitive level? Bro, none of these people are currently fighting at the top of MMA. This is basically what would happen if you built an entire fight card out of comeback fights.

Yahoo Sports already compared it to those old Affliction cards from like 2008 that were stacked with ex-UFC guys who had name value but questionable current form. That comparison is brutal but not inaccurate.

And you know what? I don't care. I'm watching all of it. Every fight on this card has a story that people care about. Rousey and Carano should've fought ten years ago. Ngannou in a cage is always must see. And Diaz versus Perry is going to be a dog fight no matter what shape either of them is in. That's what sells this card. Not rankings, not title implications, not who's in their prime. Stories.

The Bigger Picture Nobody Wants to Talk About

Jake Paul's promotion just went from boxing to MMA. Their first MMA event ever and they've got Rousey, Ngannou, Diaz, Perry, and Carano on it. On Netflix. Available to 325 million subscribers globally.

Meanwhile the UFC has the White House card on June 14 with Topuria versus Gaethje.

Both events are going to do massive numbers. But here's the thing. Rousey just went on a whole rant last week about how the UFC is "one of the worst places to go" for fighters to make money. Strickland called UFC pay "predatory." Gaethje said his paycheck didn't change under the Paramount deal.

And now MVP is out here signing former UFC fighters to what are probably significantly bigger checks than they were getting inside the octagon. That's not a coincidence. That's competition. And for the first time in a long time, the UFC isn't the only promotion that can put together an event casual fans actually want to watch.

Whether these fights are "real" enough for hardcore fans doesn't matter. The 325 million people with Netflix subscriptions aren't checking fighter rankings before they decide to tune in on a Saturday night. They're looking at names they recognize. And right now, MVP has a lot of them.

Thanks for riding with CageLore. Stay locked in!

Frequently Asked Questions About Nate Diaz vs Mike Perry

When is Nate Diaz vs Mike Perry? May 16, 2026 at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles. The fight streams live globally on Netflix as part of Jake Paul's Most Valuable Promotions card headlined by Ronda Rousey vs Gina Carano.

What are the rules for Diaz vs Perry? Unified Rules of MMA, five five-minute rounds, welterweight division at 170 pounds. The fight takes place inside a hexagon cage.

When was Nate Diaz's last MMA fight? September 2022 when he submitted Tony Ferguson in his final UFC fight. He's since boxed Jake Paul (loss by decision, 2023) and Jorge Masvidal (win by decision, 2024).

When was Mike Perry's last MMA fight? June 2021, a unanimous decision loss to Daniel Rodriguez in the UFC. Since then he's gone 6-0 in bare knuckle boxing with BKFC, beating Luke Rockhold, Eddie Alvarez, Jeremy Stephens, and Michael Page.

What else is on the May 16 Netflix card? Ronda Rousey vs Gina Carano is the main event. Francis Ngannou vs Philipe Lins is also on the card. Additional fights are expected to be announced. It's Most Valuable Promotions' first ever MMA event.