Ronda Rousey Made $2.2 Million For 17 Seconds Of Work Last Night. Here's How Much All The Fighthers Earned

Ronda Rousey did not need much time to turn her long-awaited MMA return into one of the most efficient paydays in combat sports history.

Fighting for the first time in nearly a decade, Rousey submitted Gina Carano by armbar just 17 seconds into the first round Saturday night at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California. The fight headlined Most Valuable Promotions' first MMA card on Netflix, a heavily promoted event that also featured Francis Ngannou, Nate Diaz, Mike Perry, Junior dos Santos, and several other recognizable combat sports names.

The result was about as Ronda Rousey as it gets. Takedown. Mount. Armbar. Tap.

Carano, who had not fought professionally since 2009, never got to throw a punch. Rousey immediately ducked in, put her on the mat, moved into position, and finished the fight with the same submission that defined the peak of her UFC career.

After the fight, Rousey made it clear that this was not the start of a new comeback tour. She said she will not fight again, meaning her MMA career may have ended exactly the way it began its rise: with a first-round armbar.

And if this really was the final fight of her career, it came with a very nice parting gift.

According to reported fighter payout figures from the event, Rousey earned $2.2 million for the fight. Since the bout lasted just 17 seconds, that works out to roughly $129,411 per second.

Not bad for less than half a minute of work.

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A Storybook Ending And A Huge Payday

Rousey's first MMA exit was famously brutal. After becoming the biggest star in women's MMA and one of the UFC's most important crossover athletes, she lost her title to Holly Holm in 2015 and was then knocked out by Amanda Nunes in 2016. After that, Rousey stepped away from MMA and eventually moved into professional wrestling and entertainment.

Saturday night's fight gave her a chance to rewrite the final image of her MMA career.

Carano was a fitting opponent from a historical perspective. Before Rousey became the face of women's MMA, Carano was the sport's first true female star. She helped prove there was an audience for women's fighting long before the UFC had a women's division. But from a competitive standpoint, the matchup was always a major ask. Carano had not fought in 17 years, while Rousey, even after a long layoff of her own, still had the exact skill set to end the fight immediately.

That is exactly what happened.

Reported Fighter Payouts

Here is the full reported payout list from the MVP MMA card:

• Ronda Rousey: $2.2 million
• Gina Carano: $1.05 million
• Francis Ngannou: $1.5 million
• Philipe Lins: $100,000
• Nate Diaz: $500,000
• Mike Perry: $400,000
• Salahdine Parnasse: $70,000
• Kenneth Cross: $50,000
• Junior dos Santos: $80,000
• Robelis Despaigne: $50,000
• Namo Fazil: $40,000
• Jake Babian: $40,000
• Adriano Moraes: $80,000
• Phumi Nkuta: $60,000
• Jason Jackson: $110,000
• Jeff Creighton: $50,000
• David Mgoyan: $50,000
• Albert Morales: $40,000
• Aline Pereira: $40,000
• Jade Masson-Wong: $40,000
• Chris Avila: $50,000
• Brandon Jenkins: $40,000

Those figures are especially notable because the event was not a traditional UFC pay-per-view. It was promoted by Jake Paul's Most Valuable Promotions and aired on Netflix, which has been expanding aggressively into live sports and combat sports programming.

The card also gave MVP a chance to present itself as a serious player in MMA, not just boxing. Jake Paul, who has repeatedly teased his own move into MMA, claimed after the event that MVP would continue booking MMA cards and positioned the company as a potential challenger to the UFC's dominance.

Whether that actually happens remains to be seen. Building a sustainable MMA promotion is incredibly difficult, even with celebrity names, Netflix distribution, and deep pockets. But for one night, MVP managed to put together a card with major name value, viral finishes, and a headline bout that gave Rousey the kind of ending few fighters ever get.

Seventeen seconds. One armbar. $2.2 million.

That is a pretty efficient way to close a career.