Will probably be robust for anybody to ever match the influence left behind by Ronda Rousey, however present Final Preventing Championship (UFC) Bantamweight titleholder Julianna Pena can at the very least say she did one thing “Rowdy” couldn’t.
Rousey retired from blended martial arts (MMA) in 2017 following a 48-second knockout loss to Amanda Nunes at UFC 207. From there, the primary feminine UFC champion went on to offer skilled wrestling in the past as she signed with World Wrestling Leisure (WWE). Since then, Nunes has established herself because the consensus biggest feminine fighter of all time. This previous December, nonetheless, Nunes suffered her first defeat in practically a decade when submitting to a second-round rear-naked choke submission by the hands of Pena (watch highlights).
“Ronda is so outdated information, proper?” Pena advised MMA Fighting on The MMA Hour. “I believe that what’s unimaginable about her is that she opened up the door and was destroying folks in 10 seconds, and have become a star as a result of she was demolishing folks within the first spherical, and that’s nice — however she acquired knocked out twice and by no means got here again. So how legit is she?
“She needed to go to professional wrestling. And I get that and I believe that that’s nice,” she continued. “However as a fighter and someone who’s aggressive, I do know that — deep down — it in all probability really bothers her, the truth that she went away off of two knockout losses and by no means got here again to make her title good. If it actually really does hassle her and if it will get underneath her pores and skin on the finish of the day to know that, , her legacy is type of ruined by the truth that she by no means got here again and by no means acquired again on the horse, then I wish to invite her to please come again — and if she wish to come again, I’d welcome her with open arms.”
Rousey’s first run within the WWE spanned from 2018 to 2019 earlier than she dropped her Uncooked ladies’s title to Becky Lynch at WrestleMania 35 in a triple menace match. She wouldn’t return to action until Jan. 2022 after changing into a mom.
“That’s what I’m saying, she’s type of a joke within the MMA world now, as a result of she’s a — what’s the phrase? — sellout,” Pena mentioned of Rousey. “Like, slightly little bit of a sellout there. I imply, I suppose I perceive, proper? It’s like, professional wrestling is faux, you receives a commission tens of millions of {dollars}, I get it. However for me, for actual s—t, for just like the ‘you’re the true, actual deal,’ I’d say that that’s within the UFC. And if she ever needs any of that actual smoke, I’m prepared.”
Pena lately wrapped filming season 30 of The Ultimate Fighter the place she coached reverse Nunes. The 2 are expected to have their rematch in the summer.
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