Kayla Harrison had some choice words for Ronda Rousey. |
Getty/UFC
Ronda
Rousey attracted a lot of attention for a
rant directed at Kayla
Harrison during a recent
Most Valuable Promotions press conference to promote her fight
against Gina
Carano.
Harrison drew Rousey’s ire by calling the fight between two female
MMA pioneers “irrelevant.” Harrison, the reigning
UFC women’s bantamweight queen, is expected to defend her title
against Amanda
Nunes when she recovers from neck surgery.
“If she thinks that her fight is the biggest women’s fight of
all-time, why is she getting paid less now than I was 10 years
ago?” Rousey said on April 16. “So riddle me this, bitch, are you
overvalued or are you overpaid? What really pisses me off more than
anything else is how small she thinks. This is not just the biggest
women’s fight of all time; this is the biggest MMA fight of all
time. It’s going to get the most views on the biggest platform on
the card with the biggest stars, and it was assembled by and will
be headlined by two women who dared to dream big.
“This dream is going to bring more opportunities and greater
revenue share to fighters than they’ve ever had before because this
fight is bigger than just me and Gina. It’s bigger than anybody on
this stage. It represents an unstoppable force of change in this
industry, spearheaded by the fighters themselves. You bet your
f—ing ass this is the biggest MMA fight of all time. Bar none.”
‘We’re Different’
Harrison appeared on Saturday’s
UFC Fight Night 274 pre-fight show on Paramount+, where she was
given a chance to respond to Rousey’s remarks. The Olympic gold
medalist and former PFL two-division champion put it simply: She
and Rousey are after different things at this point in their
careers.
“I can’t imagine what it would be like for someone to come in and
beat everything I’ve ever done,” Harrison said. “That would be
hard. I get it. Imagine hating me and I’m just over here in my
backyard feeding chickens. It’s got to be rough. I think that the
part that bothers me the most about Ronda is, at one point, she was
a real athlete. She was training for the Olympics. She’s an Olympic
bronze medalist. She became UFC champion. She was really trying to
chase greatness.
“I will never take away the fact that Ronda is probably the most
important female fighter. If it wasn’t for her, for sure, I
wouldn’t be where I’m at. I wouldn’t have a job. But this fight is
not the greatest fight of all-time. It’s between someone who hasn’t
fought in 10 years and is coming off two knockout losses and
another legend, another pioneer who hasn’t fought in 17 years and
is in her 40s. So don’t call it the greatest fight of all time. I’m
chasing greatness. You’re chasing money. We’re different.”
Rousey and Carano will square off in a five-round featherweight
bout at the Intuit Dome on May 16. The card will stream on Netflix,
the first MMA event to air on the platform.
Kayla
Harrison responds to Ronda
Rousey’s comments:“I’m chasing greatness. You’re chasing money. We’re different.”
📺 @paramountplus
pic.twitter.com/ymM00AEL1H— UFC on Paramount+ (@UFConParamount)
April 25, 2026