Floyd Mayweather has unexpected reaction to Ronda Rousey’s knockout loss

In the wake of Ronda Rousey’s shocking knockout loss Saturday to Holly Holm at UFC 193, some of her known antagonists took the opportunity to gloat. For example, one mixed martial arts rival, Miesha Tate, said she was “[expletive] stoked” while another, Cris Cyborg, simply tweeted out a happy-face emoticon.

[Laila Ali on Ronda Rousey: A real champ wouldn’t get beat up like that]

So surely another major figure in the world of combat sports, one who has been the subject of many of Rousey’s verbal jabs, would also take delight in her defeat, right? I am referring to retired boxer Floyd Mayweather, who may or may not have been serious when he said of Rousey last year, “I don’t know who he is.”

Since then, Rousey, who has never been shy about taking a shot at someone she doesn’t like, has made Mayweather a frequent target. In May, she said of a hypothetical match against the boxer, who has spent time in jail for domestic violence, “I don’t think that me and him would ever fight — unless we ended up dating.”

In the wake of Ronda Rousey’s shocking knockout loss Saturday to Holly Holm at UFC 193, some of her known antagonists took the opportunity to gloat. For example, one mixed martial arts rival, Miesha Tate, said she was “[expletive] stoked” while another, Cris Cyborg, simply tweeted out a happy-face emoticon.

[Laila Ali on Ronda Rousey: A real champ wouldn’t get beat up like that]

So surely another major figure in the world of combat sports, one who has been the subject of many of Rousey’s verbal jabs, would also take delight in her defeat, right? I am referring to retired boxer Floyd Mayweather, who may or may not have been serious when he said of Rousey last year, “I don’t know who he is.”

Since then, Rousey, who has never been shy about taking a shot at someone she doesn’t like, has made Mayweather a frequent target. In May, she said of a hypothetical match against the boxer, who has spent time in jail for domestic violence, “I don’t think that me and him would ever fight — unless we ended up dating.”

[Floyd Mayweather fires back with possibly disturbing shot at Ronda Rousey]

So you might think that, after Holm’s kick to the head sent the previously undefeated UFC star tumbling to the canvas, Mayweather would be more than ready and willing to kick Rousey while she was down. Well, actually, in his first public comments on the topic, he provided some very even-handed thoughts.

“Just in boxing period, contact sports period, you win some, you lose some,” Mayweather said Sunday to David Mayo of MLive.com. “I don’t know about this fight, I just know that you win some and you lose some. It basically comes with the territory.”

Interesting wording from Mayweather, considering that, far from losing “some,” he never lost any in his professional career, retiring with a 49-0 record after beating Andre Berto in September. And that, of course, could have been his intention — to remind everyone that he is one of the truly exceptional figures in combat sports, while attempting to take the air of the much-hyped Rousey’s balloon.

[Lady Gaga says Ronda Rousey got what she deserved for poor sportsmanship]

Mayweather did reiterate to Mayo his previously stated dismay that Rousey was put on the cover of venerable boxing magazine The Ring. She became the first MMA fighter accorded that honor, but Mayweather thinks it makes his sport “look bad.”

Perhaps he is taking some comfort in the fact that it took a woman relatively new to MMA after a lengthy career as a boxer to topple the face of the UFC. But if Mayweather is gloating over Rousey’s stunning defeat, he isn’t (yet) saying so.

[UFC announcer Joe Rogan’s face after Ronda Rousey’s defeat said it all]