Ronda Rousey is a pioneer of women’s MMA after leaving a legacy as a UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion and UFC Hall of Famer. However, current Women’s Bantamweight Champion Julianna Pena isn’t impressed by the legacy Rousey left behind in MMA.
Pena took aim at Rousey on The MMA Hour and issued an open challenge for Rousey to try to finish up her MMA career on a better note after dropping her last two fights and ending her UFC career in 2016.
“Ronda is so old news, right? I think that what’s incredible about her is that she opened up the door and was destroying people in 10 seconds, and became a star because she was demolishing people in the first round, and that’s great — but she got knocked out twice and never came back. So how legit is she?
“She had to go to pro wrestling. And I get that and I think that that’s great. But as a fighter and somebody who is competitive, I know that — deep down — it probably truly bothers her, the fact that she went away off of two knockout losses and never came back to make her name good. If it really truly does bother her and if it gets under her skin at the end of the day to know that, you know, her legacy is kind of ruined by the fact that she never came back and never got back on the horse, then I would like to invite her to please come back — and if she would like to come back, I would welcome her with open arms.”
Rousey left the MMA world following back-to-back knockout losses to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes. Pena believes Rousey is the joke of the MMA world.
“That’s what I’m saying, she’s kind of a joke in the MMA world now, because she’s a — what is the word? — sellout,” Pena said of Rousey. “Like, a little bit of a sellout there. I mean, I guess I understand, right? It’s like, pro wrestling is fake, you get paid millions of dollars, I get it. But for me, for real s***, for like the ‘you’re the real, real deal,’ I would say that that’s in the UFC. And if she ever wants any of that real smoke, I’m ready.”
Pena still considers herself a fan of Rousey who helped put female athletes on the map in the UFC and was impressed with Rousey’s outing against SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair despite her coming up short to win the title.
“I thought she had a great [WrestleMania] match,” Pena said. “I thought she was very good, yes. And this is just from girl to girl as a fan — I’m a fan and I think that she’s great and I’m happy for her, and I think that it’s awesome what she’s doing in the WWE — but as a fan, she either needs to be more comfortable in her own skin or needs to figure out a different attire, because every move that she does, there becomes a wardrobe fix. You know what I mean?
“Wear something that you’re comfortable with. Wear something that you love and that you’re not going to have to constantly be yanking at your clothes the entire match. You didn’t see Charlotte Flair one time touch anything that she was wearing, it was just all about the match. But Ronda’s constantly pulling. So wear something that you’re comfortable in so that you don’t have to do that, because it just takes away a little bit.”
Rousey did tap out Flair in the match, but the referee was knocked down and didn’t see it. Moments later, Flair connected with a big boot for the win. A rematch is expected to happen in the near future.
