No. It's before the fight even starts. It happens in both Ranked MMA and Online Career.
There's a few very quick loading screens in between the matchup menu and the fight starting. People do something to keep the screen just stuck in between - usually on a white screen. And whoever quits first loses the fight and loses points. There are players who do it intentionally and then even laugh about it in psn messages.
These people are seemingly willing to sit for hours using a 3-star fighter just to accumulate points and falsely climb leader boards.
I tagged EA_Mako but haven't gotten a response about this glitch. It is getting abused more and more.