Ronda Rousey blasted Kayla Harrison during a press conference on Wednesday in New York to hype up her comeback fight against Gina Carano. Harrison, the current UFC bantamweight champion, would later respond.
“Gina is so relevant that she is the whole reason the 145-pound division even exists,” Ronda Rousey began. “I am so relevant that the only reason she has a job at the UFC is because of me.
“Kayla is so irrelevant that she couldn’t even keep the 145-pound division around. Honestly, she’s just sour because no matter what she does or accomplishes, she has the charisma of a wet towel and will always be in mine and Gina’s shadows.
“The next time she wants to talk s—, she wants to look down at her feet and consider who paved the path she is walking on. Oh, wait, she can’t look down at her feet because she’s too busy holding onto her belt with a neck brace.
“And then she goes on and says I lied about training in judo in Canada in 2006. Who the f— are you to call me a liar? I was training there for five months. B—-, you weren’t even there.
“Over the last decade and a half of being a public figure, I’ve cultivated a reputation for being unabashedly truthful. This b—- just got here and she’s already been caught in a lie.
“What did she say after she won the belt? She said, ‘Oh, I’m never gonna say anything bad about Ronda, she took care of me and bought me groceries.’ How about you shut the f— up and eat your groceries.”
Ronda Rousey then compared Kayla Harrison to Paddy Pimblett
“Her and Hunter [Campbell, Chief Business Officer of the UFC] were trying to act like her next fight is the biggest women’s fight of all time.” Rousey continued. “Then why is it being booked as the co-main for a men’s interim title fight?
“The b—- isn’t even bigger than Paddy ‘The Baddy.’ No offense to Paddy. I think he’s got more potential than anyone else in the UFC, and he should call me when his contract runs out.
“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. Riddle me this, b—-, are you overvalued or are you underpaid?”
“What really p—– me off more than anything else is how small she thinks.
“This isn’t just the biggest women’s MMA fight of all time. This is the biggest MMA fight of all time, that’s gonna get the most views, on the biggest platform, on a card with the biggest stars, that was assembled by and will be headlined by two women who dared to dream big.”
Kayla Harrison issues three word response to Ronda Rousey’s rant
For the record, 21 years ago (yes, 21 years ago) Ronda Rousey defeated Kayla Harrison at the U.S. Judo Championships. Rousey was 18-years-old. Harrison was 15.
Rousey went on to win a bronze medal in judo in the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Harrison would go on to earn Olympic gold medals in 2012 and 2016.