Harry How; Getty For Netflix
TKO COO Mark Shapiro is speaking out on why the company decided to turn down the Ronda Rousey-Gina Carano fight.
Earlier this year, Rousey revealed that the UFC had turned down her fight against Carano, which ultimately ended up on Netflix.
Rousey believed that the UFC simply did not want to pay her what she believed she deserved for a fight.
“They didn’t want to set a precedent of giving me the guaranteed money I deserve… They just made a $7.7 billion deal at Paramount. It’s in their best interest not to put on the best fights possible, but to spend as little money as possible so they can keep it… Now that they sold the company, it’s out of Dana’s hands unfortunately, and it’s fallen onto Hunter Campbell and UFC corp. They don’t care about putting on the best fights possible; they care about putting on the most cost-effective fights possible.”
On Saturday, Rousey’s fight against Carano, which aired on Netflix, ended in 17 seconds.
JUST LIKE THAT.
RONDA ROUSEY DEFEATS GINA CARANO VIA ARMBAR IN LESS THAN 20 SECONDS. #RouseyCarano pic.twitter.com/XFZQQlz3NF
— Netflix Sports (@netflixsports) May 17, 2026
While speaking at a business conference on Monday, Shapiro revealed why TKO/UFC turned down the Rousey/Carano fight.
“When you ask Hunter Campbell and Dana White what they think about that matchup prior to the fight happening, the answers we got back was that fight will be over in 20 seconds. They were off by a few seconds.”
“And I don’t believe that a fight like that, just the way it played out, is really good for mma because, especially because it’s Netflix and they have such an incredible global audience and it’s a massive audience, highly engaged audience that is going to sample, depending on what comes up on the front page with Netflix, for them to then go to that fight and then think that’s what MMA is, I don’t believe is good for the sport long term.”
“And we saw it that way and decided to pass on it, taking nothing away from the legend, obviously, that Ronda Rousey is and the win that she got. And I guarantee incredible viewership numbers that Netflix will soon report. But for us, it was more of a stunt than a meaningful MMA event.”
Mark Shapiro on being pitched #RouseyCarano and ultimately declining:
For us it was more of a stunt than a meaningful MMA event. pic.twitter.com/iYpJbLLbN1— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) May 18, 2026