Bethe Correia has apologized to UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey for some recent trash talk that referenced suicide.
Given that Rousey‘s father committed suicide when Rousey was eight years old, Correia‘s comment was, at best, very poorly worded. At worst, the remark was incredibly malicious, a dirty piece of self-promotion that hit far below the belt.
Following a predictable backlash to the comment from many including Rousey herself, Correia took to Twitter Thursday to ask for Rousey‘s forgiveness and to claim that she was not aware of Ron Rousey‘s suicide.
@RondaRousey Never knew what happened to ur dad.I’m humble enough to ask u for forgiveness. Family is a godly bless to me. See u in #UFC190
— Bethe (@bethecorreia) May 28, 2015
Rousey and Correia are scheduled to fight August 1 at UFC 190 in Brazil.
Correia made her original comments Wednesday to Brazil-based combat sports website Combate (translation h/t to MMA Mania). Her reference to suicide came at the end of a longer rant against Rousey, saying that she hoped Rousey “does not kill herself” after their fight.
I want to humiliate her and show the word she has no MMA. She is focused on movies, books. I am much stronger, I come from a developing country, where people are struggling to survive, not to starve. It is very different from her life of reality. Under pressure, she is proving weak. When her mom put pressure on her, she ran away from home. When she lost, it was because of drugs. That’s not a superhero. She is not mentally healthy, she needs to take care of herself. She is winning, so everybody is around her cheering her up, but when she realizes she is not everything that she believes she is, I don’t know what might happen. I hope she does not kill herself later on.
Neither fighter is a stranger to dishing out insensitive trash talk.
Correia has repeatedly taken personal shots at Rousey, taunting the champion about her previous struggles with drug abuse and calling Rousey “selfish.”
The latest comment may make a sympathetic figure out of Rousey, who is notoriously quick to anger over and slow to forgive all slights, real and perceived. She refused to shake hands with rival Miesha Tate after beating Tate for a second time (and belittling Tate for much of the time leading up to their rematch). She has also repeatedly flung performance-enhancing drug allegations at potential rival Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino, despite there being no evidence of such usage since Justino failed a drug test back in 2011.
Rousey has also referred to Justino using the “it” pronoun.
Rousey is heavily favored to successfully defend her title against Correia.
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