Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor are two of the biggest stars in UFC. Rousey remains wildly popular throughout the world despite her recent loss to Holly Holm, and featherweight champion McGregor continues his meteoric rise regardless of how much trash talking he does.
If you ask Floyd Mayweather Jr., it’s all proof that racism still exists in boxing and mixed martial arts.
Mayweather recently had a revealing interview with Fight Hype about race in combat sports. The boxing champ started off the interview with his belief that there’s a lack of respect for middleweight boxing champion Andre Ward, but he eventually turned his attention to Rousey and McGregor.
Mayweather compared what he believes to be a lack of popularity for women’s boxing and Laila Ali, specifically, to Rousey’s international stardom.
“Ronda Rousey, you know, I think she fought somewhere like 11 or 12 fights, which is not a bad thing,” Mayweather said. “Laila Ali went undefeated and was dominating, too. After Ronda Rousey fought I think 9, 10, 11 fights, it didn’t even take that long, she got all types of endorsements, movies and everything.
“Laila Ali did the same thing in better fashion. Ronda Rousey, she’s a good-looking woman when she put it on. Laila Ali is a drop-dead gorgeous woman — I mean a naturally beautiful woman and can kick ass, but you never heard (the media) saying when she had I think somewhere around 10, 11, 12 fights that she was the baddest woman to ever fight on the planet.”
Mayweather didn’t stop there. He also opined about how his trash talking is viewed in comparison to McGregor’s.
“They say (McGregor) talks a lot of trash and people praise him for it, but when I did it, they say I’m cocky and arrogant,” Mayweather said. “So biased! Like I said before, all I’m saying is this, I ain’t racist at all, but I’m telling you racism still exists.”
Thumbnail photo via Joe Camporeale/USA TODAY Sports Images
