Mayweather's ultimate backhanded compliment to Ronda Rousey

Ronda Rousey reacts after getting knocked out by Holly Holm. Photo / Getty

Floyd Mayweather has delivered the ultimate backhanded compliment to Ronda Rousey in a rant about racism in the fight game, saying the UFC star is "a good looking woman, when she put it on".

Mayweather was attempting to explain why he believes black athletes are being treated differently in boxing and mixed martial arts by comparing Rousey's incredible rise to fame with former female champion boxer Laila Ali.

But he ventured into dangerous territory when discussing the appearance of both fighters.

"Ronda Rousey, you know, I think she fought somewhere like 11 or 12 fights, which is not a bad thing. Laila Ali went undefeated and was dominating too," Mayweather told fighthype.com.

"After Ronda Rousey fought I think 9, 10, 11 fights, it didn't even take that long, she got all types of endorsements, movies, and everything. Laila Ali did the same thing in better fashion.

"Ronda Rousey, she's a good looking woman, when she put it on. Laila Ali is a drop-dead gorgeous woman. I mean a naturally beautiful woman and can kick a**, but you never heard them (the media) saying when she had I think somewhere around 10, 11, 12 fights that she was the baddest woman to ever fight on the planet."

Mayweather continued his selective narrative on the race issue by comparing himself to new UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor.

"And what's so crazy, I don't really know the McGregor guy; never seen him fight," Mayweather said. "I heard his name actually from one of the runners that works for our company ... he told me about the guy McGregor. They say he talk a lot of trash and people praise him for it, but when I did it, they say I'm cocky and arrogant. So biased! Like I said before, all I'm saying is this, I ain't racist at all, but I'm telling you racism still exists."

Mayweather said he could also see evidence of racism in boxing's pound-for-pound rankings. "I can't believe they (Ring Magazine) got Andre Ward ranked number four in the pound-for-pound list," he said.

"Even though the guy that's ranked number 1 pound-for-pound right now (Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez), you know, you can't argue about that, but without Andre Ward losing a fight, he has to be number two.

"I mean, he wins his fights not in good fashion, but in great fashion, and they have him at number four? They got some guy ranked number nine, I don't really know his full name (Shinsuke Yamanaka), so I don't want to be disrespectful, but they got a Japanese guy ranked number nine. They got Andre Ward number 4, and this guy that's ranked number 9, we don't even know who he is. I truly believe that racism still exists in the sport of boxing."

Meantime, Rousey will make a daring return to the spotlight later this month. The dethroned women's bantamweight champion, who suffered a devastating knockout defeat against Holly Holm at UFC 193 in Melbourne last November, has agreed to host "Saturday Night Live" in New York on January 23.

Rousey follows in the footsteps of iconic athletes like Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Wayne Gretzky, who all hosted the popular NBC show.

- news.com.au