Floyd Mayweather Comments on Ronda Rousey's UFC 193 Loss to Holly Holm

Boxing legend Floyd Mayweather was uncharacteristically coy when quizzed on Ronda Rousey’s shocking loss to Holly Holm at UFC 193, refusing the opportunity to criticise the MMA star.

The two combat sports stars have been at loggerheads ever since Mayweather was asked about Rousey in 2014 and said, "I don't know who he is,” per David Mayo of MLive.com. So after plenty of subsequent words from both sides, it comes as a surprise that when discussing her loss to Holm in Melbourne, Australia, the undefeated boxer decided not to go in two-footed.

Rousey was well beaten by Holm at UFC 193.

“Oh, I don't know. I don't speak on nobody's situation,” said Mayweather when asked about Rousey’s defeat at the Staples Center during the Los Angeles Lakers-Detroit Pistons game on Sunday, per Mayo. “Just in boxing period, contact sports period, you win some, you lose some. I don't know about this fight, I just know that you win some and you lose some. It basically comes with the territory.”

Mayweather claims to be retired from boxing after beating Andre Berto earlier this year, leaving him with a 49-0 professional record.

Here’s a reminder of the devastating knockout administered by Holm at the Etihad Stadium, Melbourne, per BT Sport UFC:

Rousey had previously insisted in a Reddit question and answer session (warning: expletive language) that she would be capable of beating Mayweather in a ruleless fight. However, it’s not been lost on many that against a quality boxer—Holm is a former world champion in the sweet science—Rousey struggled.

Indeed, former NFL star Desmond Howard thinks it’s time for talk of a potential Rousey-Mayweather showdown to be shelved for good in the wake of this result:

Rousey came up against a female boxer and got KO'd. Please stop the Mayweather talk.

— Desmond Howard (@DesmondHoward) November 15, 2015

The opportunity was certainly there for Money to put the boot in further on Rousey, especially after back and forth between the pair. Not only did the UFC star lose to a fighter with a strong boxing background, but she’s now got a blemish on her record, something which Mayweather hasn’t got as he reflects on his career.

Mayweather has won all 49 of his professional fights.

Nevertheless, it seems as though Mayweather, while pretty respectful with these comments, has sought to get his shots in elsewhere, as revealed by his close friend and rapper 50 Cent on Instagram in the wake of Rousey’s defeat:

Talk of any kind of fight between Mayweather and Rousey was always going to be hypothetical. Even so, while the former champion struggled badly against a boxer-based fighter on this occasion, if there’s a rematch, it’d be peculiar to see Rousey employ similarly upright tactics instead of relying on her judo background.

Rousey was softened up by Holm's striking, before being stunned with a kick.

BT Sport’s Gareth A Davies thinks that should the pair go head-to-head again, it’d make for an especially fascinating contest:

Mayweather is usually not shy of criticising those who have been critical of him, so it’d be no surprise to see him have a much more cynical say further down the line. Perhaps, with emotions still raw in the aftermath of the bout, he decided it was best not to whip up more animosity between the pair at this time.

Maybe the manner in which Rousey, previously considered to be unbeatable in the Octagon by many, was beaten will make Money think carefully about his own possible return too. As was evident in Melbourne, all it takes is one bad night for an unbeaten record to be tarnished; you suspect Mayweather will have looked back on his own career even more contented as a result.