Ronda Rousey is keeping the heat on—but not on her upcoming opponent. As she gears up for Saturday's long-awaited showdown against Gina Carano, the former UFC bantamweight champion is firing back at critics who've been name-dropping her in the lead-up to the fight.
It's been a decade since Rousey last stepped into the cage, and while she's had nothing but respect for Carano, the same can't be said for other fighters who've taken shots at her. Among them is former UFC middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev, who recently criticized Rousey for her comments about the UFC's treatment of athletes during her promotional tour for the Carano fight.
"There never would have been Ronda Rousey without the UFC," Chimaev said on his YouTube channel, ahead of his own bout against Sean Strickland at UFC 328. "I hate this. If they pay good or they don't pay good, who cares? When she was Olympic champ, what did she make then?"
Rousey wasted no time addressing those remarks during Thursday's pre-fight press conference, making it clear she still holds deep respect for the UFC's original leadership—but not the current ownership.
"I would want to make something abundantly clear and that's I owe Dana [White] and the Fertitta's immensely," Rousey said. "I would be caught dead before you ever heard me say a bad thing about any of them. But my loyalty is to them and not the company that they sold. I do not owe TKO's UFC a damn thing."
She then turned her attention directly to Chimaev, delivering a blistering retort that had the room buzzing. "F*cking cleft-lip Lincoln is just hating because at his press conference for his fight, people are asking about me and my fight because no one gives a shit about his ineffectual wrestle-f*ck fests. People actually can't stop talking about this fight because it's so stacked and they're actually excited to see me fight because unlike Kumquat, I have a 100% finish rate."
But Chimaev wasn't the only one in Rousey's crosshairs. She also took aim at former teammate and current UFC women's bantamweight champion Kayla Harrison, reigniting a war of words that has been simmering for weeks. The tension first boiled over when Rousey appeared at a separate press conference in New York, prompting Harrison to fire back during a recent UFC broadcast.
With just days until fight night, Rousey is proving she still knows how to command the spotlight—inside and outside the cage.