UFC women’s bantamweight champion Julianna Pena has been on the headlines for her eyebrow-raising statements on Ronda Rousey, as Pena criticised the former divisional champion and the current WWE superstar, calling her a “sellout” as well as a “joke”. In the meantime, UFC women’s flyweight contender Casey O’Neill has voiced her support for Ronda, praising her as a “forever trailblazer”.
We should be supporting each other as females: Casey O’Neill counters Julianna Pena’s criticism of Ronda Rousey
There is no doubt that Ronda Rousey is one of the most legendary figures in developing not just women’s MMA, but all of women’s sports in general. The inaugural UFC women’s bantamweight titleholder was one of the most dominant forces in the cage during her prime and set a new benchmark for women’s MMA, until the subsequent losses against Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes caused the sudden end of her UFC career before she shifted to WWE.
There’s a vast arrary of opinions on Rousey’s exit from the UFC, and when it comes to Julianna Pena, the reigning women’s bantamweight champion believes her division’s inaugural champion has now become a “joke” and a “sellout”.
She’s kind of a joke in the MMA world now. What is the word? Sellout,” Pena said on The MMA Hour via MMA Fighting,“A little bit of a sellout there. I guess I understand, right? Like, pro wrestling, it’s fake, you get paid millions of dollars. I get it. But for me, for the real shit, for, like, the ‘you’re the real deal,’ I would say that that’s in the UFC.”
Casey O’Neill, ranked 13th in her division, has a polar opposite stance from Pena, and taking to Twitter, “King Casey” believes all female fighters should be in support of one another instead of berating each other, as well as calling Rousey a ‘trailblazer”, crediting her contribution for female fighters.
“A joke ? Because she had a few losses and decided to move on with her life ? This isn’t how it should be… we should be supporting each other as females in this sport… you can have an opinion on someone’s skills but this isn’t it. Forever a trailblazer & all she done for females,” O’Neill tweeted.
A joke ? Because she had a few losses and decided to move on with her life ? This isn’t how it should be… we should be supporting each other as females in this sport… you can have an opinion on someone’s skills but this isn’t it. Forever a trailblazer & all she done for females https://t.co/eiSaA8YPAJ
— Casey Oneill (@kingcaseymma) April 4, 2022
Do you agree with Casey O’Neill? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Watch UFC 273 – Volkanovski vs The Korean Zombie LIVE on SONY TEN 2 (English), SONY TEN 3 (Hindi) & SONY TEN 4 (Tamil & Telugu) channels on 10th April 2022 from 7:30 AM IST.
Purchase the UFC merch here.
Click to Predict here