One of the louder talking points for MVP MMA's first show back in May centered around the objective. By putting Ronda Rousey in a main event against Gina Carano, alongside a Francis Ngannou fight and Nate Diaz's return, was MVP jumping into the MMA game headfirst, to kick off what would become a new league?Or were they simply putting on a specific show that could beat, given its platform on Netflix, the UFC's best numbers? The UFC had its own hootenanny planned for the White House a month later, a big show for its new deal on Paramount+, and with MVP co-founder Jake Paul's competitive gene against Dana White there were plenty of motives in play.On Thursday we got a definitive answer.As first reported by the Wall Street Journal, MVP MMA is merging with the PFL, which is another way of saying that the PFL, in the end, stands for Paradise F***ing Lost. The PFL, as we know it, will become MVP MMA by the beginning of 2027, to emerge as a very clear No. 2 in the MMA space behind the UFC.It turns out that MVP MMA doesn't want to just beat the UFC's numbers; it wants to photobomb MMA's big picture.This is unlike other league absorptions we've seen in MMA in that MVP didn't have a roster. The PFL had a roster but didn't have a direction. In fact, the PFL was the slow evolution of other MMA leagues that continuously morphed into the shapeless mass that it is today. It began as the World Series of Fighting (WSOF) only to rebrand as the PFL years later, a promotion that acquired Bellator in 2023 to create one of the clumsier mega-forces of integration the combat world has ever seen.Owning to this, a couple of months back PFL's CEO John Martin who will now act as MVP MMA's CEO said that yet another PFL rebrand was being considered, which couldn't help but sound like a death rattle. In fighting as in life, when you're in constant search of an identity it means you have no identity.But MVP MMA, which has a hydra leadership group of Paul and former UFC executive Nakisa Bidarian at the helm, doesn't lack for direction. If anything, that's the one thing MVP has been exceptional at. On its boxing side of the ledger, Most Valuable Promotions has become the flagship for women's boxing in a short time, having secured a broadcast deal with ESPN and stacked its roster. In fact, on Tuesday it was announced that rising star Skye Nicholson had signed on to MVP, as it continues to build on its lead.On the MMA side, though it was roundly criticized for components of matchmaking and production, MVP made a pretty unforgettable foray by having its first ever show stream live on Netflix, which did a nearly 17 million global viewership average. Had Rousey not submitted Carano in 17 seconds (which became the center point of much criticism), that number would have been bigger, but as is it blew away anything the PFL/Bellator/WSOF has ever done.The subplot of the whole venture centered on creating competition for the UFC, and to give fighters an alternative.In fact, the whole event acted as a subtweet to the UFC's ownership group, TKO, in that MVP's billed itself as "fighter first," meaning that under its banner the fighters would receive the compensation they deserve. And in truth, the payouts were extraordinary by MMA standards. Philipe Lins, who never cracked six figures in the UFC, made a disclosed purse of $100,000 for his fight with Francis Ngannou that night, and was rewarded another $100,000 from Ngannou himself (in an act of largesse).Ngannou himself did well into the seven figures.Paying "fair" wages is a precedent that MVP is running with as it acquires the PFL roster, which has nearly 400 fighters under one umbrella."Our goals at MVP have always been bigger than just building a boxing promotion," Bidarian said in a statement. "It has been to build the future of combat sports with a true fighter-first approach. In less than five years, MVP has become one of the most influential and culturally relevant brands in the industry, producing some of the biggest events in combat sports history, elevating women's boxing to unprecedented heights, and bringing millions of new fans into the fight game."The success of MVP MMA's first event confirmed our belief that there is demand for a modern, fighter-first approach to MMA. This merger accelerates our MMA ambitions while strengthening our ability to continue investing in boxing and MVPW. Now the real fun begins. In the words of the great DMX Let's Get It On.(Italics are mine.)What does it all mean? We have seen players drift in and out of the sport before, ranging from blowhards (poor Affliction) to delusionists (read: Davis, Donn) to sellers of the dream (did GFL circle its first date yet?), but if nothing else MVP has shown the chutzpah to back up everything its professed to be.There is still much to be determined, as we wait to find out what kind of broadcast rights deal(s) come out of it. That will be a major factor in MVP's success. As will the philosophical approach. Does MVP bring in aged relics, as it did with 57-year-old Mike Tyson in boxing, and Carano in MMA? Does it bring in disgruntled UFC stars? Influencers like Paul? Or does it try to build its own stars, starting with what's available with the roster its acquiring?Does it zero in on certain markets, as the PFL tried to do in Europe?There's also a third competitor, as Scott Coker's "Strike MMA" league (as it's been at least temporarily dubbed) is set to kick off in 2027, an independent promotion that enters this race as a kind of Ross Perot reform party.If nothing else, MMA is going to turn into a nighttime soap come 2027, because MVP MMA is gunning for the UFC and its business practices. We've seen the UFC snap up two MVP fighters in the last week, the heavyweight Robelis Despaigne, who knocked out Junior dos Santos on MVP MMA's initial card, and Salahdine Parnesse, the French star who will headline a UFC Fight Night in Paris against Dan Hooker.The gamesmanship will be fierce in the new corporate combat sports world. And the conglomerates will be battling on every level, as both TKO and MVP have boxing's old guard to contend with, as well as the strongholds in MMA. Whether you're optimistic or pessimistic about MVP's big declaration into MMA, the old adage continues to be true, even if history has shown it to be a fleeting thing.That is, competition is good.