Octagon girl extraordinaire Arianny Celeste is just as confused as the rest of us in regards to her ongoing feud with UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey.
“I guess she doesn’t like me for whatever reason,” Celeste said of Rousey on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour. “And I don’t know what that reason is, because I’ve literally met her twice and was so polite and so welcoming, and so excited to have women in the UFC. So I don’t really know what her deal is with me.”
Following comments Rousey made in 2012 about ringcard girls being pretty but talentless, Celeste recently stated that she believed Rousey wasn’t “a good role model for women,” to which Rousey replied, “Did it just take her a year to come up with a comeback?”
Though for her part, Celeste says the entire situation has been one big passive aggressive mix-up.
“(It stemmed) just from comments she made about me that I ignored, and then I was doing an interview about my show,” Celeste said. “Also it was around the time she was fighting in Vegas (at UFC 170), so they asked me a couple questions. Of course I said that it’s a very great honor that two amazingly strong women, Olympic medalists are headlining the UFC. That’s a great accomplishment. And then they took the one negative comment and blew it out of proportion. So whatever.
“I don’t really care. She’s a fighter, I’m an Octagon girl. It’s two completely different things. I’m never going to fight, so people can stir up s–t as much as they want.”
Celeste, who has been occupying her role cageside since 2006 and turns 29 this year, isn’t sure when she’ll be ready to move on to the next stage of her career, but at least for the moment, while international Octagon girls pop up all over the place, she’s still enjoying the ride.
And in regards to widespread fan speculation about her recent engagement, she put the rumors to bed.
“That happened, but it’s not happening anymore,” Celeste said. “It was just a very weird thing that happened, but it’s over now. I didn’t get married. I made a huge mistake and that’s over with. I’m in a much better place.”