Mark Shapiro: Rousey vs. Carano Was More Of A Stunt Than A Meaningful Event

The biggest women’s fight in MMA history ended in 17 seconds, but TKO’s President doesn’t feel it was meaningful.

Two of the biggest names in women’s MMA clashed on May 16 at the Intuit Dome on Netflix for the MMA clash between Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano. At the end of the night, Rousey was victorious with their signature armbar finish.

While speaking at the JP Morgan Global Technology and Media Conference, TKO President Mark Shapiro was asked about it and explained why he chose to stay away from it rather than invest into the fight.

“It was pitched to us and we did turn it down. That’s to take nothing away from Netflix. They are a great partner and clearly they know what they are doing across the board. They’re in the big event business. They want big spectacle events, and they saw that this is a big spectacle event. We’re in the true MMA business on a meaningful and consistent basis. When we looked at this potential match-up, keep in mind there is a real art and skill to match-making. When you ask Hunter Campbell and Dana White what they think of that matchup prior to it happening, the answer was, ‘That fight will be over in 20 seconds.’ They were off by a few seconds. I don’t think a fight like that, just the way it played out, is really good for MMA. Especially because it’s Netflix and they have an incredible global audience. For them to go to that fight and think that’s what MMA is, I don’t think is good for the sport long-term. We saw it that way and decided to pass on it. Taking nothing away from the legend of Ronda Rousey and the win she got. I guarantee incredible viewership numbers. For us, it was more of a stunt than a meaningful MMA event,” he said.

Rousey has stated that this was her way of rewriting the ending to her legendary MMA career and she did just that on Saturday, May 16 against Carano in the biggest women’s MMA fight of all time.