Julianna Pena feels like she just stepped onto the set of Mean Girls, starring UFC women’s bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey.
Side rivals are becoming a common occurrence for Rousey.
Back in 2012, in an interview with EsNews (language NSFW), she said she would “beat the crap out of Kim Kardashian.” She opened the floodgates to the whole idea of her being able to defeat boxing legend Floyd Mayweather Jr. last year in an interview with Power 106 Los Angeles. Recently, she was involved in a brief verbal exchange with former women’s boxing world champion Laila Ali, as per Marlow Stern of The Daily Beast.
However, all of those run-ins pale in comparison to Rousey’s ongoing beef with UFC Octagon girl Arianny Celeste.
The feud was recently reignited when Rousey casually downgraded a ring girl’s worth in MMA, when compared with that of fighters. During a media event for UFC 184, she voiced her concerns regarding fighters potentially earning less money than Octagon girls.
“There’s definitely a lot more in what the fighters do than what they do,” said Rousey, according to MMAFighting.com's Marc Raimondi.
When responding to Rousey’s comments on MMAJunkie Radio (h/t MMAJunkie.com), Celeste called the UFC champ a “big bully.”
Pena, the winner of The Ultimate Fighter 18, is widely considered one of the last lines of defense before Rousey licks the bowl clean in the women’s bantamweight division. Rousey served as the opposing coach to Miesha Tate on TUF 18, which means Pena has already had enough one-on-one time to develop a strong opinion of her.
During an interview with Raimondi, Pena called Rousey an “arrogant” and “ignorant” UFC champion:
“Ronda said I didn’t deserve to breathe the same air as Shayna Baszler," said Pena. "That’s when you know someone is arrogant and ignorant.”
Pena was especially turned off by Rousey’s comments regarding Celeste, who has worked for the UFC for nearly a decade:
First off, it’s none of Ronda’s business how much Arianny gets paid. Arianny has been with the company a hell of a lot longer than Ronda has and made the UFC plenty of money and gotten them exposure with things like Maxim, other magazines and TV shows.
If Ronda is so close with Dana, she should bring up fighter pay to him instead of looking ignorant.
The feud between Rousey and Celeste stems all the way back to an article published by Maxim, featuring a compiled ranking of the top 100 most beautiful women in the world. After it was revealed that both women made the list, Rousey quickly singled out Celeste, when asked by Maxim's Laura Leu who she felt was ranked too high.
“‘Ha-ha, it’s your job to show your t-----s—I do that better than you,’” said Rousey.
Pena is expected to return at UFC Fight Night 63 after missing well over a year with a torn ACL, MCL, LCL and meniscus in her right knee. She will be featured on the main card against Milana Dudieva.
Rousey, on the other hand, is still enjoying the fruits of her labors after her record-breaking 14-second submission victory over Cat Zingano in the main event of UFC 184.
Jordy McElroy is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA writer for Rocktagon and FanRag Sports.
