Shayna Baszler has defended Ronda Rousey against fans claiming Saturday’s Rousey-Gina Carano fight on the new MVP Netflix MMA card was worked, pointing to Rousey’s actual UFC record as the rebuttal.
Rousey beat Carano on Saturday in just over 15 seconds, taking Carano down and finishing with her signature armbar in a sequence that mirrored several of Rousey’s career finishes in the UFC. The fight closed faster than several of Rousey’s all-time fastest victories. Some segments of MMA Twitter accused the bout of being staged due to the short duration and the cleanness of the finish.
Baszler, who has trained with Rousey for over a decade as part of the original Four Horsewomen MMA group and has remained close friends with her since both transitioned to wrestling, responded on X.
“If you want to know how fast the memory of MMA fans gets erased, 17 seconds isn’t even her fastest win and people think it was worked, lol. What about her :14 win over Zigano? Or her :16 win over Davis? Or her other 5 wins under :30? Or her 9 total wins under a minute?”
Rousey’s UFC record contains nine total wins in under a minute, including her record 14-second submission over Cat Zingano at UFC 184 in February 2015 to retain the bantamweight championship, and her 16-second armbar finish over Alexis Davis at UFC 175 in July 2014. Five more of Rousey’s nine sub-30-second UFC wins occurred between 2011 and 2014, the period during which Rousey was widely considered the most dominant champion in any combat sport. Baszler’s framing is that a 15-to-17-second armbar finish from Rousey is consistent with her actual professional record rather than anomalous.
The MVP Netflix card was the first in a planned series of MMA events under Jake Paul’s MVP banner, with Netflix streaming the show globally. The card was headlined by Rousey-Carano in what was billed as a one-off return for both fighters, with Junior dos Santos, Nate Diaz, and Francis Ngannou on the undercard.
If you want to know how fast the memory of MMA fans gets erased, 17 seconds isn’t even her fastest win and people think it was worked, lol. What about her :14 win over Zigano? Or her :16 win over Davis? Or her other 5 wins under :30? Or her 9 total wins under a minute?
— Shayna Baszler (@QoSBaszler) May 17, 2026
