By Marissa Payne April 23 at 12:00 pm
Be careful what you say as a mixed martial arts fighter — it could get you punched. Which, well, is part of the job anyway, but in this case, Ronda Rousey’s rude words about rival MMA star Cris “Cyborg” Justino could get her punched extra, extra hard.
Americana, an MMA apparel company, offered $5,000 in cold, hard cash to the fighter who can knock out Rousey first. The bounty was first posted on Twitter. The offer came about after Rousey referred to the muscly Cyborg, who she suspects of beefing up from steroids, as an “it” in an interview with Yahoo last week. But that’s not all. Rousey also said this about Cyborg, proving MMA fighters seriously know how to trash-talk:
“I’ve said before, I don’t care if she’s injecting horse semen into her eyeballs, I’ll fight her, but that’s just my personal decision.”
A spokesperson for Cyborg, a native of Brazil, resoundingly denied any steroid use in a statement and Cyborg, herself, responded to Rousey’s words to a Brazilian sports Web Site via Facebook:
“What can I say about this stupid statement of hers? Rounda [sic], this is sad for you to hear, but I’m a woman and I’ll soon be fighting in your weight class and you can’t run.”
As Cyborg notes, she and Rousey are currently in different weight classes. Cyborg is a featherweight and Rousey is a bantamweight. They’re also in different leagues. Cyborg fights under the Invicta FC banner and Rousey fights in the UFC, which would make any potential fight between the two in the octagon unlikely right now. And that’s how Rousey would like to keep it:
“If [Cyborg] comes in the UFC and I beat the [expletive] out of her and then I retire and become an action movie star, then the UFC is still going to be stuck with her. The division could die. She could ruin the whole sport. Even though it’s a fight a lot of people want to see, even if I beat the living crap out of her, it won’t be good for the sport because then she’d still be in the UFC,” Rousey told Yahoo.
Like I said, MMA fighters are serious trash-talkers. And yes, that $5,000 is supposedly still up for grabs. Perhaps Alexis Davis, the top contender for Rousey’s UFC championship, will get it. The two will tussle on July 5 in a UFC pay-per-view.
Or maybe it’ll happen sooner if Cyborg’s fans show up at Friday’s Orioles game. Rousey has been chosen to throw the first pitch, the Baltimore Sun reports. She better wear a helmet.
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