Arianny Celeste Calls Ronda Rousey "A Big Bully"; Rousey Snaps Back

UFC women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey and UFC ring girl Arianny Celeste have a history of sorts. Rousey is unimpressed by the job of ring girl; Celeste thinks Rousey is mean. This week, they added another point to their timeline of taking shots at each other.

This particular back-and-forth seems to have started because Rousey said fighters should be paid better than ring girls, which seems fairly unobjectionable. Celeste defended her occupation and basically shrugged off Rousey's comments. Via MMA Junkie:

"I'm not going to talk about her because I'm not a fighter," she said. "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."

Well, Rousey had more to say. (Remember, she's fighting Cat Zingano this weekend at UFC 184, not Celeste.) Via Bloody Elbow:

"What did I say that I was a bully?" Rousey asked when alerted of Celeste's statements. "I said that the fighters should get paid more than the ring girls. That doesn't make me a bully, that makes me f-cking right.

"I'm sorry, but she wouldn't have a job if it wasn't for the fighters. She wouldn't. Do you think her walking in circles around the two guys or two girls out there like, fighting for their lives is worth more? 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."

[...]

"For her to take that personally – you know what would have been the best thing for her to say?" Rousey asked. "'Oh my god! You know? These fighters work so hard. And I wouldn't have a job if it wasn't for them and I just admire them so much. Yeah, I definitely think that they should get paid more than anybody in the arena tonight.'

"There you go, a PR lesson for her."

Rousey has a point, in that fighters being paid more doesn't mean ring girls necessarily have to be paid less, but she and Celeste certainly seem to enjoy butting heads even if they're not disagreeing.

Photo: AP