Arianny Celeste found herself in a war of words with Ronda Rousey. Rousey was the face of the UFC at the moment and was advocating for better pay for female fighters. She claimed the UFC should pay female fighters more than they should be paying the ring girls. Celeste then responded to her calling her a ‘bully’ and it turned into a whole controversy. In a recent interview, Celeste revealed that she asked Dana White for his help during the situation.
Arianny Celeste has been a ring girl for the UFC for 18 years. She recently retired from being a ring girl and sat down with MMA Junkie Radio to talk about her career. The interviewer asked her about the controversy with Ronda Rousey and she revealed that Dana White helped calm her down during the ordeal. Speaking about the incident, Celeste stated,
“So I definitely did call Dana, I was like what do I do about this and he was able to calm me down. It didn’t affect me but it did bother me, coz I’m like hey I don’t even know this person.”
Arianny Celeste went on to state that she did not know why Ronda Rousey was saying such things about her when they did not even know each other. However, she admitted that later on, she could understand where the former UFC champion was coming from.
Ronda Rousey was very vocal about fighter pay and she made a big statement almost discrediting the UFC ring girls. Here’s what Rousey said that caused the controversy.
Ronda Rousey called out the UFC for paying the ring girls more than fighters
Ronda Rousey was the face of the UFC back in 2015 and she made it very clear that she could not comprehend the job of the ring girls. She made a strong statement by saying fighters should be paid more than the ring girls in an interview with MMA Junkie. Rousey said,
“I’m sorry but she (Arianny Celeste) wouldn’t have a job if it wasn’t for the fighters. Do you think her walking around circles around the two guys or two girls out there fighting for their lives is worth more?”
Ronda Rousey did not ask for Arianny Celeste or any of the other ring girls to get a pay cut. All she wanted to make everyone aware of was that some fighters get paid less than the ring girls. She found that to be unfair because she believes fighters train harder and put their lives on the line every time they step into the octagon, which is a lot harder than what the ring girls have to do.
