Julianna Pena sorry/not sorry over fat shaming Ronda Rousey

Former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey struggled with her weight as teen Judoka, which led to Bulimia. She has used her fame to reach out to people struggling with weight issues, and responds to the issue viscerally.

“I swear to God, if anyone calls me fat one more time in my life, I’m going to kill them,” said Rousey with the utmost seriousness to a New York Times reporter last year.

Rousey’s return to MMA is indefinite as she is recovering from knee surgery, and enjoying life. New division champion Amanda Nunes says her first defense will be vs. a returning Rousey, or barring that, vs. #1 contender Julianna Pena.

Pena is not impressed.

“She’s like the emperor in no clothes,” said Pena to a TMZ Sports reporter. “You know what I mean? She’s broken, a little bit. I just think that no one really cares about Ronda Rousey and her fat arms any more. But I guess some people do. So I guess Amanda Nunes is going to wait around for a title fight, and we’ll see how that goes.”

Rousey in shape does not have ams that could reasonably be described as fat, unless by fat you mean jacked.

Like the vast, vast majority of fighters, she does not maintain the same level of conditioning year round, and images have surfaced on the Net that inspired mean-spirited comments.

There is a special kind of “fan” that posts wide-eyed about how rippely a fighter’s abs are at a weigh in comparison to previous fights. It’s just as weird when directed at a male fighter, as it is at a female fighter. Further, given that women suffer disproportionately from body issues, like suicide, mothers, and medical issues, body fat isn’t an appropriate subject for trash talk.

And for the record, Rousey has suffered digs from fighters over her mother and suicide, as well.

However, during a recent interview with Steven Marrocco for MMAjunkie, Pena refused to back off on the substance of her remarks.

I’m not trying to body shame her,” said Pena. “I’m just sick of them asking me whether she’s in training or not training, or if she’s on a movie set, or if she’s having babies. At this point, my Ronda meter is set. I’m done. I’m over it.

And for the record, we are in the fight business, OK? I need to pick up fights. I need to pick up the best possible fights for me, and Ronda’s been needing an ass-kicking from me for a while. We’re not talking about puppies here. I’m not in the puppies business. My job is to hurt people, and I want to hurt Ronda Rousey, and that’s all it comes down to.

I still haven’t found the correct way to deliver it to make it sound nice. But I know what I mean, I mean what I say, and I don’t play back seat very well, if you couldn’t tell.

Further, the pair have a history. Pena was a member of Team Tate on TUF 18, and was told by Rousey she didn’t deserve to breathe the same air.

I think a lot of people have forgotten how rude and how much of a b**** she was to me on the show and the way that she treated me personally, said Pena. Those are things that I don’t forget. She’s disrespected me, and she’s disrespected my coach on the show. They ask about her all the time – ‘is she coming back, is she coming back’ – and I don’t know. But I would love to introduce her back into the division if she is, because that’s been a fight that I’ve been trying to get for many years now.

I think it was the wrong choice of words. What was in my head didn’t come out exactly the way I wanted it to through the media. I’m not trying to call her a fat person – I was basically commenting on how the media is always asking about her, whether she’s training or not, whether she’s coming back or not, whether she’s having that giant’s babies or not, and it’s so annoying at this point that I’m just like, forget about it. The buzz has died.

I’m just saying the things that sometimes I feel these people are thinking. And the truth of the matter is, UFC, I’m sorry, she’s just not that into you. I am into the UFC, and I want to fight for the belt. This chick is standing in my way and teasing everyone whether she’s coming back or not, so I’ve had enough. I’ve literally had it up to here with this chick.