TKO President Mark Shapiro says the UFC passed on the Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano fight because the promotion viewed it as “a stunt rather than a meaningful MMA event,” and believed the matchup would be bad for the sport given the size of the Netflix audience.
Shapiro made the comments Monday at the JP Morgan Global Technology, Media and Communications Conference, explaining how the decision was made internally.
Netflix wants big spectacle events and they saw this as a big spectacle event. We’re in the true MMA business on a meaningful, consistent basis. When we looked at this potential matchup, keep in mind there’s a real art and skill to matchmaking. The answers we got back from Dana White and Hunter Campbell were that fight will be over in 20 seconds.
Shapiro said his concern extended beyond the result itself to what it signals to new viewers.
I don’t believe a fight like that, just the way it played out, is really good for MMA, especially because it’s Netflix and such an incredible global audience that is going to sample, depending on what comes up on the front page, to go to that fight and think that’s what MMA is. I don’t believe that is good for the sport long term. We saw it that way and decided to pass on it.
He added that he did not want to diminish Rousey’s win or the viewership the broadcast drew.
Rousey submitted Carano in 17 seconds in the main event of MVP MMA 1 on Saturday night.
