Floyd Mayweather defends Ronda Rousey following Holly Holm loss

Mayweather beat Andre Berto to the World Welterweight title in October this year

MMA icon Ronda Rousey lost her match to opponent Holly Holm at UFC 193 on Sunday, the 15th of November, in the first loss of her professional MMA career. Former professional kickboxer Holm defeated Rousey 59 seconds in into the second round of the match, with her trademark kick to the head knocking Rousey to the ground almost instantly.

A bleeding Rousey was taken to hospital in Melbourne immediately after, later releasing a statement saying she was fine and recovering.

Several of Rousey’s former opponents spoke out following the defeat yesterday, posting to social media in celebration of her defeat and support of Holly Holm. Her rival Miesha Tate posted to social media with a pithy ‘you just got beat, b***h!’ while Bethe Correia, whom Rousey recently defeated, was also pleased at her victory.

United States Presidential candidate Donald Trump tweeted that he was pleased at Rousey’s loss, but was met with flak from Twitter users.

However, she had support from a very unexpected corner.

Longtime Rousey critic Floyd Mayweather Jr, who has on several previous occasions taken public digs at the fighter, with her retaliating as well,poke out in support, saying "I'm pretty sure she's a very, very strong person, but we still have to take into consideration that she has feelings," Mayweather said.

Hip-hop star 50 Cent posted a picture to his Instagram page mocking Rousey's loss to Holm with a scene from Rocky IV, with the caption stating that Mayweather, a long-time friend of the rapper, asked him to post it and "do the dirty work." The scene portrays boxer Apollo Creed, the best friend of lead character Rocky Balboa, beaten to death, with his body held up by his coach.

The rapper has since deleted the post.

Denying the allegations, Mayweather said he knew how it felt to have fans turn allegiances following an athlete’s loss.

Mayweather wasn’t the only one to have come out in support for the former Champion. Here’s what the legendary boxer Mike Tyson had to say:

@RondaRousey a true champ is not defined by wins. You are glorious even still. @danawhite @ufc #ComeBackQueen pic.twitter.com/oDygRsrYTF

— Mike Tyson (@MikeTyson) November 15, 2015

Glad to see that @RondaRousey lost her championship fight last night. Was soundly beaten - not a nice person!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 16, 2015