After having her UFC career delayed nearly two years by a brutal knee injury and assault charges, it seems like TUF winner Julianna Pena is using smack talk to try and make up for lost time. She’s earned more attention from recent comments about Ronda Rousey’s ‘fat arms’ than for her three most recent wins, and while she feels a bit bad about the body shaming, that doesn’t mean she is done bagging on the absent face of women’s MMA. Via MMA Junkie:
“I’m not trying to body shame her – I’m just sick of them asking me whether she’s in training or not training, or if she’s on a movie set, or if she’s having babies. At this point, my Ronda meter is set. I’m done. I’m over it. And for the record, we are in the fight business, OK? I need to pick up fights. I need to pick up the best possible fights for me, and Ronda’s been needing an ass-kicking from me for a while. We’re not talking about puppies here. I’m not in the puppies business. My job is to hurt people, and I want to hurt Ronda Rousey, and that’s all it comes down to.”
“I think a lot of people have forgotten how rude and how much of a bitch she was to me on [The Ultimate Fighter] and the way that she treated me personally. Those are things that I don’t forget. She’s disrespected me, and she’s disrespected my coach on the show. They ask about her all the time – ‘is she coming back, is she coming back’ – and I don’t know. But I would love to introduce her back into the division if she is, because that’s been a fight that I’ve been trying to get for many years now.”
“And the truth of the matter is, UFC, I’m sorry, she’s just not that into you. I am into the UFC, and I want to fight for the belt. This chick is standing in my way and teasing everyone whether she’s coming back or not, so I’ve had enough. I’ve literally had it up to here with this chick.”
Those harsh words are probably shared in less aggressive form by many of the other women of the UFC who are always measured against and questioned about Rousey. But without Ronda, there wouldn’t even be a women’s division in the UFC. So while I’m sure it sucks to live under the shadow of a superstar — especially one that hasn’t competed in nearly a year — there’s a certain respect that Rousey should still get. Based on Ronda’s recent spat with Paige VanZant over nothing, Pena better hope she’s not scheduled to do any promo alongside the former champion, or things could get uglier than a little name calling.
(Via MMA Junkie)