TKO’s president and chief operating officer, Mark Shapiro, downplayed the significance of Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano’s fight on Netflix.
Shapiro spoke at the JPMorgan Global Technology, Media, and Communications Conference and was asked about the decision by the UFC to pass on the fight when it was presented to them.
It was pitched to us beforehand, and we did turn it down. That’s to take nothing away from Netflix. First of all, they are a great partner, and clearly, they know what they’re doing.
They want big spectacle events, and they saw this (Rousey vs. Carano) as a big spectacle event. We’re in the true MMA business on a meaningful, consistent basis, and we looked at this potential match-up, keep in mind, that there is a real art and skill to matchmaking. When you ask Hunter Campbell and Dana White what they think about that match-up prior to the fight happening, the answer we (Ari Emanuel and Shapiro) got back was that the fight will be over in twenty seconds. They were off by a few seconds.
I don’t think a fight like that, the way it played out, is really good for MMA.
Shapiro likened the fight to “more of a stunt than a meaningful MMA event.”
Ronda Rousey has stated she pitched the fight to the UFC and initially had an agreement for the fight to take place on the UFC’s final pay-per-view before moving to its streaming model on Paramount+. When Gina Carano required more time to get ready for the fight, and the bout would have to take place on Paramount+, the deal fell apart. They went to Netflix and Most Valuable Promotions.
