Bethe Correia Apologizes For Suicide Comments Aimed At Ronda Rousey
Heading into her UFC 190 title bout against dominant champion Ronda Rousey on August 1 from her home country of Brazil, women’s bantamweight Bethe Correia has leapt headfirst into an all-out trash talk battle that dates back to Correia’s wins over Rousey’s teammates Shayna Baszler and Jessamyn Duke.
The insults have been heated and venomous to be sure, but Correia may have crossed the line when she recently told Combate that she hoped Rousey wouldn’t ‘kill herself’ after she beat her. Rousey understandably got angry at the comments, which she viewed as insensitive considering her father took his life when she was younger.
Rousey responded with a stern warning on Twitter, and Correia wrote back saying she didn’t know about Rousey’s loss and asking for forgiveness:
@RondaRousey Never knew what happened to ur dad.I’m humble enough to ask u for forgiveness. Family is a godly bless to me. See u in #UFC190
— Bethe (@bethecorreia) May 28, 2015
Several have already jumped to criticize Correia, believing her to have had previous knowledge of the situation. It’s tough to think she would knowingly attack something so close and personal to the champion, but it has looked like nothing is sacred in the lead-0p to their heated showdown in Rio de Janeiro.
While it can in no way be condoned to poke fun at suicide, it’s also worth noting that Rousey hasn’t always been a model citizen when talking trash to her opponents. She’s endlessly bashed bitter enemy Cristiane ‘Cyborg’ Justino in the media, saying that she’s an ‘It’ who only won because of steroids and should be arrested for attempted murder after she went into the Strikeforce cage on steroids. Her rivalry with Miesha Tate made Rousey out to be the heel when she submitted Tate and refused to shake her hand at UFC 168.
But Correia has taken it to an all-new, personal level, and it came off as a bit classless. She promptly issued an apology, but it’s safe to say the damage was already done.
And at this point, Ronda Rousey is probably the last woman that you want to fire up heading into a fight.
