Ronda Rousey tells Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather 'f*** you' for being motivated by money ahead of UFC return

Rousey says Mayweather and McGregor do not have the right motivations for their boxing and UFC careers respectively in a fierce verbal attack

Ronda Rousey is not impressed by fighters like Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor who are motivated by money (Getty)

Ronda Rousey has launched a stinging attack on Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor ahead of her hotly-anticipated return to the UFC, criticising the two global superstars for being motivated by money.

Along with McGregor, Rousey is one of the most recognisable names in the UFC after helping the put women’s mixed martial arts on the biggest stage. Having lost her women’s bantamweight championship to Holly Holm at UFC 193, Rousey took more than a year out of fighting, but will return to the Octagon at the end of the month at UFC 207 to face current champion Amanda Nunes.

With her media commitments beginning to increase ahead of the 30 December bout in Las Vegas, Rousey and Nunes have begun their war of words as they prepare to meet at the T-Mobile Arena, but Rousey has also found time to turn her attentions towards Maywether and McGregor – who have repeatedly teased a ‘superfight’ between the pair.

McGregor claims he would knock undefeated boxer Mayweather out if they were to meet in the squared circle, and any boxing match between them would certainly rake in millions across the globe.

29-year-old Rousey though has hit out at them, and claims that the way they go about their business isn’t necessarily “the right way”.

“If money is the motivation, then f*** you,” Rousey said in an interview with ESPN Magazine.

“All these Money people. … Money [Floyd] Mayweather, Money [Conor] McGregor. I see they’re trying to do an angle or whatever.

“People buy it…the worship of money in our society is so deep.

"But just because that's the easiest way to keep people's attention or entertain them doesn't mean that's the right way."

Rousey has spent 13 months out of the sport after her defeat by Holm in Melbourne, Australia, during which time she revealed that she suffered from depression and even had suicidal thoughts as she struggled to cope with her first UFC loss.


 Mayweather is locked in a war of words with McGregor about a potential 'superfight' 
 (Getty)


 McGregor is the most recognisable name in mixed martial arts 
 (Getty)

Rousey has spent 13 months out of the ring but will return at UFC 207 this month (Getty)

The American admitted that she let herself become distracted heading into the fight by trying to do too much to please other people, and also explained how she couldn’t care about the money from the fight because all that mattered to her was the fact that she lost.

"I was just trying to make too many people happy, but when I try and do favors and make everybody else happy, at the end of the day, they walk away happy and I'm the one who has to deal with the depression.

"All the pay-per-views in the world, all the money in the world, it means f**ing nothing to me because I lost."

Mayweather meanwhile has responded to the repeated jibes from McGregor by posting a video online showing the Irish MMA fighter being choked out during his UFC 196 defeat by Nate Diaz, asking fans to caption it in a dig at his rival.

McGregor has called out Mayweather for a boxing match even though ‘Money’ is retired, and he even went as far as to gain a Californian boxing licence to take a step closer towards a potential match. Mayweather would be putting his unblemished 49-0 record on the line if he were to agree to a fight, with McGregor adding fuel to the fire by claiming there is not a man on the planet that he couldn’t knock out with his left hand.


 McGregor beat Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 to hold the lightweight and featherweight titles 
 (Zuffa LLC via Getty)

McGregor also tried to taunt Mayweather by claiming that he would be the bigger draw in a fight between them, before ending his rant with “f*** Floyd Mayweather”.