UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey has revealed she waited a year to humiliate unbeaten boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr., who alleged he didn’t know the mixed martial artist’s name, achievements or sex during an interview in 2014.
Rousey beat out Mayweather to win this year’s ESPY for Best Fighter and offered a live television jibe at Floyd’s checkered past, tweeted by Paddy Power:
Mayweather served a two-month jail sentence in 2012 after being found guilty of beating the mother of his three children in 2010, reported by Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports. He has accumulated six charges of domestic abuse, per the report.
Pretty Boy beat Rousey to last year’s ESPY award and proceeded to disrespect her by playing ignorant in an interview shot by Daniel Greisman of Boxing Scene, as highlighted below:
This stuck with Rousey, who admitted to Fox Sports’ America’s Pregame show (h/t Boxing Scene’s Carlos Boogs) that she had calculated a response to Mayweather’s comments:
It was a real subtle and snarky jab at me. I was actually nominated for “Best Fighter of The Year” that year with him. So I know he knew who I was. He actually has MMA fighters signed to him so I know he knows who I am.
I was just sitting there on the couch one day, post surgery, my leg just got operated on, and I was like “okay, I’m patient. I’m going to get you at the right time. And you’re going to say ‘maybe I shouldn’t have said that about that chick.'”
Rousey confessed she “waited a whole year” and “would have waited another year” if she hadn’t won the ESPY this year. She continued, “I would have waited for the right time to remind him that he shouldn’t mess with me. I would be interested to hear him pretend that he doesn’t know who I am now.”
The dominant MMA star suggested there’s the “possibility” Mayweather can “redeem himself” but that he doesn’t seem like the kind of individual to make such an attempt. Rousey has become a good friend of boxing legend Mike Tyson—whose marriage to Robin Givens was allegedly “marked by violence,” per the Daily Mail—and urged Floyd to use the 49-year-old as inspiration to turn his life around.
Boogs passed along Rousey‘s comments:
Mike is a great example, where he has put on so much effort over the years to better himself as a man.
He’s owned up to the things he’s done. He’s denied the things that he hasn’t done. He paid his debt to society and almost lost everything for it. I admire that kind of effort and humility out of Mike just as much as I admire his fighting.
He really gained my respect as a man. I really hope that Floyd Mayweather grows up to be like Mike Tyson.
Rousey has made her name not only by being an unstoppable force in the Octagon but also by never backing down when mocked in public. We saw that when upcoming opponent Bethe Correia mockingly told Rousey not to commit suicide if she loses at UFC 190, per Combate (h/t Matt Erickson and Christian Stein of MMA Junkie).
Correia apologised and said she didn’t know Rousey‘s father had killed himself when she was little, as noted in an exchange between the pair on Twitter:
However, Rousey promised to dish a “devastatingly embarrassing” victory over Correia during her recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live (h/t Damon Martin of FoxSports.com).
This is part of the fighter’s persona, something she showed once again in dealing with Floyd. There’s no bigger star in MMA right now and no bigger target, so Rousey‘s ability to deal with those who belittle her is an important characteristic in her staying on top.
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