Ronda Rousey was at her very best during her time in the spotlight at the Palladium Times Square in New York, transforming the MVP MMA press conference into a war declaration on Kayla Harrison and the UFC.
Despite being away from the octagon for almost a decade, Rousey remains atop the biggest names in women’s mixed martial arts. The less-than-impressive end to her career didn’t stifle her career status, with many fighters still referencing the 39-year-old, both positively and negatively.
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One of those who has sided against Ronda Rousey is fellow judo practitioner Kayla Harrison. The pair have traded shots at each opportunity they get, but none come close to the destructive speech Rousey gave while attending the Most Valuable Promotions presser this week.
“Gina [Carano] is so relevant that she’s the whole reason that the 145-pound division even exists,” Rousey said, defending her upcoming opponent against Harrison’s comments. “And I am so relevant that the only reason she has a job at the UFC is because of me. And Kayla is so irrelevant that she couldn’t even keep the 145-pound division around.”
“And honestly, she’s just 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 me and Gina’s shadow. So, the next time she wants to talk sh*t, 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.”
Rousey’s attack became more personal. The martial arts icon-turned-pro wrestler recalled a less fortunate time for Harrison, in which she was forced to help pay for her groceries.
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“Then she goes on and says that I lied about training in judo in Canada in like 2006,” Rousey stated. “Like, who the f*** are you to call me a liar? Okay. I was training there for five months. Bit**, 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 bit** just got here and was already caught in a lie.”
“What did she say after she won the belt? She said, ‘Oh, I’m never going to say anything bad about Ronda. She took care of me when I was broke in Japan and bought me groceries.’ How about you shut the f*** up and eat your groceries.”
Aiming once again at the UFC and Hunter Campbell, Ronda Rousey went on to discredit the company’s credibility.
The rumored Kayla Harrison vs. Amanda Nunes clash is being billed as the biggest women’s fight of all time, but Rousey stole the show as she not-so-politely disagreed with that sentiment.
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“Her and Hunter [are] trying to act like her next upcoming fight is the biggest women’s fight of all time,” Rousey continued. “Then why is it being booked as a co-main for a men’s interim title fight? The bit** isn’t even bigger than Paddy ‘The Baddy’. No offense to Paddy. I think he’s got more potential than anybody in the UFC, and he should call me when his contract runs out.”
“Here’s another contradiction that I think is a f***ing kicker. 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, bit**: are you overvalued or are you underpaid?”
“And what really pisses me off more than anything else, yeah, I’m not f***ing done, 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 a card with the biggest stars. And it was all assembled by and will be headlined by two women who dare to dream big. And 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, and it’s bigger than anybody on this stage. It represents an unstoppable force of change in this industry, spearheaded by the fighters themselves. Bet your f***ing asses it’s the biggest MMA fight of all time, bar none.”
