Ronda Rousey has reignited her rivalry with UFC women’s bantamweight champion Kayla Harrison, turning a long-simmering tension into one of the most heated storylines ahead of her return to MMA.
Rousey and Harrison first crossed paths years before their UFC careers, competing on the judo circuit where Rousey defeated Harrison at the 2005 U.S. Judo Championships. That history has continued to shape their relationship, with respect long gone and public shots now taking center stage.
The feud escalated again when Harrison’s manager claimed his fighter “hates” Rousey. Things got worse after Harrison accused Rousey of fabricating a training story from their judo days, calling it a “blatant f***** lie.”
Now, as Rousey prepares to face Gina Carano in a blockbuster Netflix main event, she has responded with a fiery public outburst aimed directly at Harrison.
During a press event for Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano, Rousey did not hold back:
“Gina is so relevant that she’s the only reason the 145-pound division even exists. The only reason [Kayla] has a job at the UFC is because of me, and Kayla is so irrelevant that she couldn’t keep the 145-pound division around. And honestly, she’s so sour because no matter what she does or what she accomplishes, she can’t change the fact that she has the charisma of a wet towel and will always be in mine and Gina’s shadow!”
Rousey continued her attack, questioning Harrison’s credibility and past statements.
“So the next time she wants to talk s***, she should look down at her feet and consider who paved the road that she’s walking on. Oh wait! She can’t look down at her feet, because she’s too busy holding on to the belt in a neck brace. And then, she goes on and says I lied about training in Judo in Canada in like 2006. Who the f*** are you to call me a liar? B****, you weren’t even there!”
“I’ve cultivated a reputation for being unabashingly truthful. This b**** just got here and got caught in a lie!”
Rousey also dismissed claims that Harrison once helped her financially, firing back with another sharp insult.
“She said I used to buy her groceries, shut the f*** up and eat your groceries!”
As of now, Harrison has not responded to Rousey’s latest comments. The tension between Rousey and Harrison has been building for years, fueled by their shared judo background and competing narratives about their time together on the U.S. team.
Harrison previously accused Rousey of exaggerating a training story from 2006, rejecting it outright:
“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,’” Harrison said. “Dude, that is literally a blatant fcking lie. Now you’re just making s** up. That never happened.”
Rousey fired back again in a separate response, doubling down on her version of events and questioning Harrison’s integrity:
“Who the fck 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 have cultivated a reputation for being unabashedly truthful. This b**** just got here and was already caught in a lie.”
The feud has gained even more attention as Rousey prepares for her UFC comeback against Gina Carano, a fight already being billed as one of the biggest MMA events in years.
Harrison, however, criticized the promotion surrounding the bout, questioning its placement and hype level compared to other UFC cards.
Rousey responded by challenging the narrative around Harrison’s own status in the sport:
“Her and Hunter [Campbell] acting like her next upcoming fight is the biggest women’s fight of all time. Then why is it being booked as a co-main for a men’s interim title fight?”
“The b**** isn’t even bigger than Paddy the Baddy [Pimblett]. No offense to Paddy. He’s got more potential than anybody in the UFC, and he should call me when his contract runs out.”
With Rousey vs. Carano set to stream globally on Netflix, the stakes , and attention, continue to rise.
Rousey closed her remarks by doubling down on the magnitude of her comeback fight:
“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? So riddle me this, b****, are you overvalued or are you overpaid?”
“This is not just the biggest women’s fight of all time; this is the biggest MMA fight of all time. It represents an unstoppable force of change in this industry, spearheaded by the fighters themselves.”
