UFC bantamweight champion Julianna Pena has told legendary former champion Ronda Rousey that her legacy was "kind of ruined" by her two knockout losses.
Pena defeated Amanda Nunes to become champion back in December, a title which Nunes defended in Rousey's last-ever fight back in December of 2016. The American was the first bantamweight champion in the UFC, and was a groundbreaker when it came to women fighting in the promotion.
But Pena believes her two knockout losses at the tail end of her career before moving into the WWE has damaged her legacy. Rousey lost her belt to Holly Holm with a vicious knockout at UFC 193 which kept her out for over a year before Nunes finished her career the following December.
"Ronda is such old news," Pena said during an appearance on The MMA Hour. "What's incredible about her is that she opened up the door and was destroying people in ten seconds and she became a star because she was demolishing people in the first round and that's great.
"But she got knocked out twice and never came back, and so how legit is she? She had to go to professional wrestling and I get that, it's great but as a fighter and somebody who's competitive, I know that deep down it probably truly bothers her that she ran way off two knockout losses and never came back to make her name good.
"If it really, truly does bother her and gets under skin to know that her legacy is kind of ruined by the fact that she never got back on the horse then I would like to invite her to please come back and I would welcome her with open arms, but that's the B-side, the A-side is Amanda Nunes and fighting her."
Would you like to see Julianna Pena fight Ronda Rousey in her UFC comeback? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
And Pena would entertain a possible fight with Rousey for her newly-won bantamweight title if she ever decided to make a return to the sport. However, she branded the former fighter a "sell-out" and a "joke" for deciding to switch to professional wrestling, where the results are pre-determined and she decides when she wins and loses.
"She's kind of a joke in the MMA world now," Pena said of Rousey. "Because she's a little bit of a sell-out, I guess I understand professional wrestling is fake and you get paid millions of dollars, I get it.
"But for me, for the real s*** where you're the real deal, I would say that that's in the UFC. I would say that if she ever wants any of that real smoke, I'm ready."
Rousey last fought in the UFC in December 2016, and quickly transitioned to WWE, where she most recently appeared at WrestleMania 38 against Charlotte Flair on Saturday night.
