Rousey v Carano sets record as 17m watch MMA event

Ronda Rousey's win over Gina Carano on Saturday set a new record for the most-watched MMA event in the US.

The 15-second demolition job peaked at 17 million viewers globally on Netflix, shattering the previous record of nine million.

UFC 329 in 2018, headlined by Khabib Nurmagomedov v Conor McGregor, was the most-watched pay-per-view event with 2.4m buys, while UFC on FOX 1 in 2011 was believed to be the previous most-watched MMA event with an 8.8m audience.

Rousey v Carano had a "minute audience" of 12.4m with Francis Ngannou and Nate Diaz also on the main card.

Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) co-founders Nakisa Bidarian and Jake Paul suggested the viewing figures opened the door to stage more MMA events on Netflix.

Rousey v Carano was the first MMA event live on the the streaming platform and did a £1.64m ($2.2m) gate at the Intuit Dome in California.

The victory for Rousey was a vintage performance from the 39-year-old, who was fighting in MMA for the first time in 10 years.

Rousey insisted this would be her final fight, while Carano, 44, suggested she may compete again considering how quickly her comeback lasted.

"I wanted to throw, battle, win, but I kicked when I should have moved and was down and done," Carano said on Instagram.

"If I hadn't tapped she would've broken my arm, as it had begun to crackle. The disappointment of losing like that is very humbling."

"Now I feel like this is just the beginning," Carano added. "I can't wait to see where I can push my body to go next."