Former UFC bantamweight champion Julianna Pena has criticized former champ Ronda Rousey.
Rousey was the first female fighter in the UFC and the first female champion. She played a key role in the UFC becoming as big as it is, but the end of her career did not end kindly as she lost back-to-back fights and she never fought again.
However, Julianna Pena wasn’t a fan of the way Ronda Rousey acted after losses, as she believes she didn’t take any accountability.
“I will say, definitely, weight of the world on her shoulders, I’m sure, but it comes with the territory,” Peña said on The MMA Hour. “I do have this saying that I always say to everybody, ‘It sounds like an excuse, it sounds like an excuse. That’s what we call an…’ and then they’ll finish the sentence for me and they’ll say, ‘an excuse.’ I’ll tell you straight-up, ‘That’s an excuse, but…’ It’s never for her to say, taking accountability, ‘It’s an excuse, but I didn’t get to evolve.’ It’s just more of like blaming everybody else without taking any accountability.
“Especially if you lose, everybody loses. You get back up on the horse, you ride again, you fight another day. You’re not going to win every single fight. I think it was very poor taste for her to lose like that and then just be gone from the sport and never return. It just kind of shows her mentality,” Pena added.
Pena also says even if Rousey wasn’t as big of a star as she was, it was only a matter of time until women got into the UFC.
Julianna Pena had a feud with Ronda Rousey
Julianna Pena was on TUF 18 which was coached by Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate.
Pena was on Tate’s team, and she went on to win the season, but during the season, Pena had some run-ins with Ronda Rousey and she wanted to fight her because of it.
“It’s a tool, and you can use it to fuel you or you can use it to sabotage you and ruin your life,” Peña said. “What are you going to do, you know what I mean? It’s some of that fighter mentality, for me. Are you going to fight back or are you just going to crumble and say, ‘My life is over. Everybody hates me and I’m done, and it’s all your fault.’
“Look, [I’m] appreciative, thankful, happy. Thanks for getting the foot in the door for the rest of us, of course. But I also had my own personal run-ins with Ronda, especially being on The Ultimate Fighter, that were not so pleasant, so I’m obviously going to feel a little bit differently about her than maybe most people would.”
However, the fight between Pena and Rousey never came to fruition and never will.
