UFC women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey made the news yesterday for allegedly hooking up with a married UFC fighter that is under investigation for domestic violence. Today, it's because of something she said about Floyd Mayweather. The P4P boxing king and the UFC's biggest star have been tossing insults at each other for a little while now, with the latest coming from Rousey.
TMZ caught up to Rousey while she was out walking her dog and asked her a few questions about Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes, before asking about her being the top star in the UFC. With no prodding from the reporter, Ronda brought up Mayweather's statement comparing his huge paydays to her income, and responded her own jab:
Rousey: "He said 'You make $300 million a night, then you can give me a call', and I actually did the math and given the numbers of my last fight, I'm actually the highest paid UFC fighter and I'm a woman. I think I actually make 2-3 times more than he does per second. So when he learns to read and write, he can text me."
Reporter: "So per second, you actually earn more than he does?"
Rousey: "Yeah, I'm just a little bit more efficient."
The shot about reading and writing stems from a battle between Floyd and rapper 50 cent from about a year ago, back with the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge was huge (remember that?). Mayweather had trouble reading a 10-second radio promo, which prompted 50 to offer up a $750,000 donation to charity if Floyd would read a page of a Harry Potter book. Floyd just responded like he normally does - by pointing out how much money he has.
Jimmy Kimmel said Floyd could do it live on his show, so Mr. Jackson upped the ante by stating that words in the Harry Potter book may be too hard for Floyd to pronounce, so he can read The Cat in the Hat instead. Floyd declined.
Yes, this actually happened. And I claimed this story just so I could help the world to not forget the epic Floyd/50/Potter/Seuss battle of 2014.
Rousey will defend her bantamweight title against Holly Holm at UFC 195 in January. Mayweather will compete in the last fight of his Showtime contract against Andre Berto in September. And no, they will never be fighting each other. Stop asking.