Kayla Harrison had some choice words for Ronda Rousey. | Getty/UFCRonda 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.”
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