Ronda Rousey took a shot at Cris Cyborg during her recent trip to Rio de Janeiro, and the Invicta FC featherweight champion has decided to fire back.
Rousey criticized Cyborg’s “horrendous” technique, said the Brazilian takes steroids because she “lacks self-confidence.”
“And the way that she is on the ground, it’s absolute horrendous. And her distance is absolute horrendous,” Rousey said. “The only thing that she has is pace and power, and I have pace, precision and power.”
Cyborg, who tested positive for stanozolol in 2011 following a 16-second knockout victory in Strikeforce, responded in an interview to MMAFighting.com.
“What she says means nothing to me,” Cyborg said. “A person is visiting my country and trying to defame me with my fans to get attention shows you how uneducated she is. She’s a low-level person. She feels she has to step on someone in order to rise.”
Rousey said she was open to fight her, but the Brazilian “asked to be released from the UFC 24 hours after the announcement of out-of-competition drug testing.”
Cyborg is not so sure she would fight her, though.
“As always, (Rousey) is trying to pick her next opponent. She is running away from me and asking to fight Bethe (Correia),” she said. “If she was so sure about everything she says, she would have already accepted to fight me like she accepted to fight Gina Carano at any weight, fight Cain Velasquez, (Floyd) Mayweather. Grow up, Ronda.”
According to the Brazilian, Rousey is jealous about the attention a non-UFC fighter gets from media and fans.
“It’s funny she says I dishonored the sport and my country, but everybody wants to see me fight her. That might frustrate her,” she said. “If you think about it, there are only a handful of people that have never fought in the UFC and are known worldwide. I’m proud to know that I never needed an event to promote me, and I never had to lie about anyone. I’m known worldwide for my talent and my team, Chute Boxe.”
Cyborg is expected to make her bantamweight debut in an Invicta FC card in December.