A prominent TKO figurehead recently made some curious comments regarding the Netflix broadcasted fight between Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano with one of MMA’s most tenured reporters responding to those quips in question.

Dave Meltzer is the referenced media member here and while predominantly known for The Wrestling Observer, under that by-line he also became one of the earlier individuals to cover mixed martial arts as a regular beat. Also Meltzer has the distinction of being a former UFC judge with those prior duties served at UFC 18.

Mark Shapiro was the TKO figurehead in question and he recently articulated some of his Rousey versus Carano assessments in relation to how the UFC fit into all of it. This was reported on by a contributor to Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer newsletter and when addressing this subject matter on his personal X account, Josh Nason said,

“At today’s JP Morgan global tech, media and communications conference, TKO’s Mark Shapiro said the reason UFC passed on Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano was it “more of a stunt than a meaningful MMA event” and one he thought wasn’t good for the sport after how it played out. “[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 [he & Ari Emanuel] got back [from Dana White & Hunter Campbell] were that fight will be over in 20 seconds. “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 is good for the sport long term. “We saw it that way and decided to pass on it,” taking nothing away from Rousey, her win or the viewers the broadcast got.”

TKO’s Shapiro gets blasted by Meltzer post-MVP MMA 1

In a re-tweet from Josh Nason’s reporting on Mark Shapiro’s expressed sentiments touching on the Ronda Rousey versus Gina Carano clash, Dave Meltzer responded,

“Imagine the disingenuous bulls**t I’ve heard over the years. This is near the all-time top. The UFC wanted this fight, Dana [White] himself said you would never believe the fight that fell into our lap when it was proposed to him in late 2024. They were on board, would have promoted it like crazy, had a PPV date but Carano needed more time and they got out of PPV.”

“Without PPV they wanted a guarantee and somebody else offered more. Also, if the idea that a short main event is bad for the sport, Ronda [Rousey] had nine wins and one loss in less than 70 seconds and her drawing power and PPV buys increased with every PPV win. [Mark] Shapiro is either completely full of s**t or has zero knowledge of MMA history [or both]. TT.”