UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey was presented with the award for Best Fighter on the planet at last night’s ESPY Awards, dethroning six-time winner Floyd Mayweather and bringing the title home to UFC for the very first time.
Rousey was given the award during an interview, and took a huge shot at Mayweather in the process.
“I can’t help but say, I wonder how Floyd feels being beat by a woman for once. I’d like to see you pretend to not know who I am now,” she said with a huge smile on her face.
Shots fired!
The jab from Rousey may actually have a few different layers. The ESPY Award for Best Fighter has only been given nine times since its inception in 2007, with Mayweather winning six of those times (Manny Pacquiao won the other two). It’s possible the heated joke was just for the sake of her victory, but it’s the “for once” in her quote that may stick out. Mayweather has been convicted and charged for five counts of domestic violence since 2002.
Rousey’s line has received mainstream attention in virtually every media outlet in the U.S. since Wednesday night – it took scrolling through THIRTEEN pages of Google results just to find something on “Ronda Rousey Floyd Mayweather” that wasn’t about the ESPYs. That may put WWE higher-ups in an awkward position, as Triple H’s eternal man-crush on the 48-0 boxing legend now collides with Stephanie McMahon’s attempt to court the undefeated UFC phenom for next year’s WrestleMania.
