Famously (or infamously) outspoken female fighter Ronda Rousey has gotten into a verbal row with former Strikeforce women’s featherweight champion Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos over Twitter.
After dominating the women’s 145-pound division for years, Cyborg’s secret was finally revealed: She was on performance-enhancing drugs.
This drew the ire of many female MMA fighters, but none quite as much as silver-tongued Olympian Ronda Rousey, who has practically revitalized women’s MMA (WMMA) with her brash attitude, looks and fighting ability.
Rousey went on a tirade against Cyborg in an interview on TapouT Radio, saying, among other things, that “Chris Cyborg was abusing for so long, it changed the bone structure of her face.“
“I think it threw a monkey wrench into the credibility of Chris Cyborg, and I think you have to rethink all of her wins before…You know, it’s not like she beat them on technique, and if she wasn’t doping, she wouldn’t have won any of those fights.
She was using, and you know what, if they were using too, it would have been a different ball game. I think women’s MMA is better in general with her gone, because I can’t think of any little girl who would watch her an be like ‘Mommy, I want to be that when I grow up.’ If I was a little girl, and I saw that, I’d be like, ‘Eww is that what you have to be like to be a good fighter? I don’t know if I want to be a fighter.”
Cyborg, not one to take an insult lightly, responded over Twitter by taunting Rousey and posting a picture of Cyborg’s handiwork—a battered Gina Carano.Rousey wasted no time in crafting a fiendish response that set the WMMA world ablaze.
“You don’t just have a dick, you are a dick for posting that picture of Gina, you cheater,” Rousey tweeted earlier this morning.
It’s unlikely that the two will meet in the cage any time soon due to Cyborg’s suspension, but it’s just another interesting tale of how Ronda Rousey has become the Chael Sonnen of women’s MMA—people love it (or hate it) when she talks.
Either way, it gets eyes on the sport and that’s a good thing.
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