Ronda Rousey has been called out for lying ahead of her anticipated returned MMA.
Rousey, a former bronze medalist Olympian in judo, rose to superstardom as the first ever female champion in the UFC. She ruled over the women’s bantamweight division for several years, dominating all of her early opposition, and headlining multiple successful pay-per-views. She has not fought since she suffered a quick and brutal knockout loss to Amanda Nunes in 2016, but on May 16, will make her anticipated return to action against fellow women’s MMA pioneer Gina Carano.
Rousey has been making the rounds with the media in the lead-up to the fight, which will air on Netflix and be promoted by Jake Paul. At one point, she apparently made a remark that not everyone believes is true.
Reigning UFC bantamweight champ Kayla Harrison, in particular, took issue.
Harrison, an Olympic gold medalist in judo who knows Rousey personally, explained the problem during an appearance on Jorge Masvidal’s Death Row MMA podcast.
UFC champ Kayla Harrison trashes Ronda Rousey over ‘blatant’ lie
“I saw something the other day,” Harrison said. “Ronda was talking about back in the day. So in judo, we have this thing. They put a red sash on you, it’s [called] Ippon Dori. You’re out in the middle and it’s live gos. If you throw, whoever wins stays. Say you and I are going, it’s like king of the hill or last man standing. There’s no time limit. We could have a 30-second go or 30 minutes.
“So she’s online telling this story about how, ‘Yeah, I had a lot of pride so I’d be out there for an hour with these girls and then finally a 90-kilo guy would take pity on me and come out and throw me.,” the UFC champ added. “Dude, that is literally a blatant f***ing lie. Now you’re just making s**t up. That never happened.”
Prior to her 2016 loss to Nunes, Rousey was defeated by Holly Holm, also by knockout. That defeat, which clocked as one of the biggest upsets in UFC history, marked the end of her title reign. Her last win was a 2015 knockout of Bethe Correia.
Her next opponent, Carano, has not fought since 2009, when she was knocked out by Cris Cyborg.
Harrison, who also called Rousey “irrelevant” during the podcast appearance, didn’t hesitate to sneak in a jab at Carano too.
“How old is Gina?” the UFC champ said. “She hasn’t fought in 17 years. Like, shut up.”