The UFC fight drawing the most attention isn’t even in the ring.
Women’s bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey and Octagon ring card girl Arianny Celeste have kept up their war of words for months. Celeste called Rousey a “big bully” — well, there’s a novel thought — and Rousey threw some shade back at the ring girl, saying she’s not a bully, she’s just “f–king right.’’
“What did I say that I was a bully? That the fighters should get paid more than the ring girls? How does that make me a bully? That makes me f–king right,’’ Rousey said. “I’m sorry, but she wouldn’t have a job if it wasn’t for the fighters. She wouldn’t.’’
Rousey initially did not single out Celeste, who has boasted of turning being a ring girl into a full-time career — one that clearly doesn’t impress Rousey, arguably the sport’s biggest star.
“I’m not going to talk about her because I’m not a fighter,” Celeste told MMAJunkie.com. “I’m not going to waste my time. I actually don’t talk about anyone. It blows my mind that someone who doesn’t even know me continuously picks on me. And that’s all I see her as: a big bully.”
The undefeated Rousey — who defends her title Saturday night at UFC 184 against Cat Zingano — disagreed.
“Do you think her walking in circles around the two guys or two girls out there, like, fighting for their lives, is worth more?’’ Rousey said. “You think she works harder than they do? I didn’t say that she needed a pay cut. I said either the ring card girls are paid too much, or the fighters aren’t paid enough.’’
This story first appeared in the NY Post.