Kayla Harrison has fired back at Ronda Rousey, after the UFC legend accused her of having “the charisma of a wet towel” and dismissed her legacy.
On 16 May, Rousey will fight in mixed martial arts for the first time in 10 years, facing Gina Carano on a Most Valuable Promotions show.
All the while, Harrison is recovering from a neck injury as she aims to defend the UFC bantamweight title for the first time. She was scheduled to do so against a returning Amanda Nunes in January, before she sustained her injury.
Harrison, 35, and Rousey, 39, actually have similar backgrounds, with the latter winning Olympic judo bronze for Team USA in 2008, before Harrison won gold in the same discipline in 2012 and 2016. Rousey also held the UFC bantamweight title from 2013 until 2015.
Rousey actually retired after a knockout loss to Nunes in 2016, but now she is back to face Carano, a fellow Strikeforce legend, who hasn’t fought since 2009. And Rousey has been typically outspoken during the build-up, leading Harrison to respond.
“I’m just going to go ahead and say I could be meaner,” Harrison said during on Saturday. “I think that it would be really hard… I can’t imagine what it would be like for someone to come in and beat everything I’ve ever done. 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 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 a 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 weren’t for her, for sure I wouldn’t be where I’m at. I wouldn’t have a job.
“But this fight [with Carano] 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 woman – again another legend, another pioneer, but [who] hasn’t fought in 17 years and is in her 40s. Don’t call it the greatest fight of all time.
“I’m chasing greatness. You’re chasing money. We’re different.”
It is unclear when Harrison will return to the cage, but she is still expected to fight Nunes next time out.
Harrison was a lightweight champion in the PFL before debuting in the UFC in 2024 and cutting down to bantamweight. Her UFC debut was a submission win over Holly Holm, who dethroned Rousey via KO in 2015, and Harrison next outpointed Ketlen Vieira before challenging Julianna Pena last June. Harrison submitted Pena to become bantamweight champion.
