Laila Ali Says She Could Beat Ronda Rousey in a Fight

UPDATE: March 11

Ronda Rousey has responded to Laila Ali's comments, telling The Daily Beast's Marlow Stern that she's "around" if the boxer ever wants to fight:

"

If [Ali] wants to take me up on that, I'm around. She's retired and has several kids. I understand why she'd think that because she has a size advantage, but if you saw my last fight it had nothing to do with size or strength at all. That's not how I beat people. So you can't count having a size and strength advantage as having a real advantage against me.

"

This isn't not true. Rousey doesn't overpower opponents as much as latch onto them and bend their bodies in the wrong direction. In any case, if Ali wants to tangle, Rousey's not hard to find.

—End of Update—

UPDATE: March 9

Ali tweeted a clarification Monday morning. She says she's firmly retired and doesn't intend to fight anyone.

She reiterated that she'll always say she can beat any woman and is just glad Rousey is wreaking havoc on the sport.

—End of Update—

Who’s ready for another episode of “Could Ronda Rousey beat down [insert man/woman/dinosaur here]?”?

Apples-to-oranges hypotheticals are becoming as much a part of Rousey’s legacy as her first-round armbar victories. Such is her dominance in the Octagon that every day another #HotTake seems to emerge about which bipedal individuals could or could not defeat her in combat.

Throwing out a percentage of male MMA fighters Rousey could beat up is all the rage these days, but the most recent “what if” scenario involves Laila Ali, former professional boxer and daughter of Muhammad Ali.

TMZ recently caught up with the 37-year-old retired pugilist at Los Angeles International Airport. The conversation started with her opinion on the upcoming Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao superfight (she thinks Floyd Mayweather Jr. will pull out the win), but it shifted, as common law decrees all fighting conversations must do, to whether she could take Rousey.

An undefeated (24-0) super middleweight during her fighting career, Ali initially said the question was pointless. She’s a boxer, Rousey is a mixed martial artist. These are not one and the same.

“That’s like a question I’m not even gonna answer,” Ali said. “Because, for one, I’m not a UFC fighter. She’s not a boxer.”

That’s it. That’s all Ali had to do—state the obvious and dismiss the question as dumb hypothesizing over a bout that will never take place.

But then Ali gave an answer.

“And no woman in the world can beat me. Period,” Ali added. 

Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press

Not even Rousey?

“Of course not,” Ali said. “She’s too much smaller than me anyways. She’s like the size of my daughter. My 3-year-old.”

Welp. She is her father’s daughter.

As for the size issue, Ali isn’t exactly a giant. The boxer measured 5’10”, 167 pounds during her fighting career. Rousey fights at 135 pounds and is listed at 5’7", 5’6” and 5’4” in different places (we should probably get that nailed down, guys).

It’s a solid difference, to be sure, but the disparity becomes less of an issue when Rousey’s folding your elbow like a lawn chair in the wrong direction. 

Anyway, keep the hypotheticals coming. I can’t wait for Joe Rogan to prognosticate on which extinct species of elk Rousey could Kimura the fastest. My money’s on Irish.

Dan is on Twitter. Could Rousey beat Kentucky?