Despite infamously failing to ever fight Brazilian icon Cris Cyborg during her decorated career, Ronda Rousey still has a grudge with the decorated UFC champion.
Notably, during her own roughshod run at bantamweight during her UFC pomp, Rousey was forever linked with an eventual showdown with Cyborg, as was the case with her tenure at the now-defunct Strikeforce.
Ultimately retiring from combat sports in 2016 — just a year before Cyborg’s move to the Octagon and introduction to a featherweight limit, Rousey’s pairing with the Brazilian will go down as one of the biggest what-if matchups of all time.
However, during her time away from action, it seems Rousey still has some words of venom pointed toward PFL queen — branding her a “steroid” cheat once again.
“Strikeforce was the only organization that was really showcasing women, and that was because of Gina Carano,” Rousey told Chris Van Vliet.
“Because her dad was involved with the Nevada Athletic Commission and was able to sanction fights for her and all these things,” she noted, adding, “When she was gone, Cris Cyborg’s pumped to the f*cking gills with steroids.”
“No one wants to watch that cheating-ass b*tch. Everything just tanked. The division was dying,” Rousey claimed.
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The poster girl for the UFC during her rise, Rousey, notably held a close relationship with CEO Dana White, who has also gone on record to claim that the Olympic bronze medalist was one of the easiest people to do business with.
However, recently disclosing a slew of damaging neurological issues she’s been left with from a career in combat sports, Rousey claimed she was damaged by one particular request from White.
Rousey reveals White’ urgings led to ultimate downfall
Seeing her bantamweight reign come crashing down back in 2015, Rousey was felled in brutal fashion in a short-notice title defense against Holly Holm in Australia.
Replacing an injury-stricken Robbie Lawler from a pairing with Carlos Condit, Rousey revealed White had urged her to fight the Albuquerque striker before the end of that same year.
And hoping to remain in the promotional CEO’s good graces, Rousey took the pairing. But in the time since, the Riverside grappling ace has admitted some dark thoughts presented themself off the back of White’s urging to make a quickfire return.
“I’ve always had trouble with intrusive thoughts, like if you say: ‘Try not to think of a blue duck,’ I will keep thinking of a blue duck constantly to remind myself not to think of the blue duck,” Rousey explained.
“The harder I tried to push a thought out, the more I’d be consumed by it. Only it wasn’t the blue ducks, it was self-destructive thoughts,” she added.
It should be noted that Rousey was the fighter who changed White’s mind about having female fighters compete in the octagon. So, when Rousey became the face of the company and its first star to go mainstream, she spent a lot of her time showcasing herself to the organizational head.
However, it proved detrimental in the long run.
“I had to make sure that Dana (White) couldn’t go a single day without seeing my name somewhere,” Rousey explained. “The rest is history.”
Earlier, Rousey had revealed that she had been a subject of multiple injuries going into the Holm fight — something Holm believes is a common theme for all fighters and she was simply the better gladiator on the night.
