Ronda Rousey Uses Paddy Pimblett to Diss UFC Champion Kayla Harrison During Gina Carano Press Event

Ronda Rousey brought some of her old trash-talking game to promote her upcoming bout against Gina Carano on Netflix.

Ronda Rousey Uses Paddy Pimblett to Diss UFC Champion Kayla Harrison During Gina Carano Press Event

Kayla Harrison and Ronda Rousey (via BBC, Yahoo Sports)

In Short
  • Ronda Rousey criticized Kayla Harrison at a press event, blaming her for the UFC's women's 145-pound division struggles.
  • Harrison responded to Rousey's comments with a challenge to fight, indicating she was unfazed by the tirade.
  • Cris Cyborg also weighed in, suggesting Harrison has avoided a fight with her in the past, intensifying the rivalry.

Things got quite rowdy at the press event for Netflix’s upcoming card headlined by Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano. The former UFC women’s bantamweight champion went on an epic tirade. However, the one who bore the brunt of it wasn’t her opponent. It was UFC women’s bantamweight champion, Kayla Harrison, with lightweight contender Paddy Pimblett being mentioned as well.

Rousey went ballistic on Kayla Harrison, blaming her for the failure of the UFC’s women’s 145-pound division. The former champion even said the 2x Olympic Judo champion had the charisma of a “wet towel.” She even went as far as to claim that she and Carano had paved the way for Harrison in the sport of MMA.

Her rant was sparked by Harrison’s recent comments on Jorge Masvidal’s DEATH ROW MMA podcast. The latter called Rousey irrelevant and downplayed the quality of the upcoming Netflix card. Masvidal also agreed, saying the UFC Freedom 250 card was a much better card since it featured fighters at the top of their games.

Ronda had previously mocked the UFC White House card. Moreover, at last night’s presser, Rousey pushed back against the notion of her irrelevance. She flipped the script on Harrison, pointing out that the latter would not have a job at the UFC without her.

The 39-year-old questioned the way Kayla Harrison and Hunter Campbell hyped up the former’s next fight against Amanda Nunes. The Harrison vs Nunes superfight was originally the UFC 324 co-main event before the American’s neck injury postponed the booking to a future date.  

Her and Hunter trying to act 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? [Harrison] isn’t even bigger than Paddy The Baddie. Why is she getting paid less now than I was 10 years ago? Riddle me this!

Ronda Rousey via the Rousey vs Carano press conference

However, Rousey acknowledged that she meant no disrespect towards Pimblett. In fact, Rousey had a lot of good things to say about the Scouser who headlined the UFC’s first Paramount card. She said the Brit had potential and that he should call her when his contract runs out.

It’s clear that Ronda’s ire was meant entirely for Kayla Harrison. What started mutual respect between the former judokas has now turned into a feud. With her epic rant at the presser, Rousey took the gloves off in this rivalry. However, the UFC champion was quick to respond to her rant on social media.

Kayla Harrison reply to Ronda Rousey’s fiery rant prompts unexpected response

Fans imagined it wouldn’t take Kayla Harrison long to reply to Ronda Rousey’s comments. It turns out they were right as just a few hours after Ronda’s explosive rant; Harrison issued a response through a simple post on her X account.

Rounda Rousey comment sparks reply from Kayla Harrison and Cris Cyborg
Rounda Rousey comment sparks reply from Kayla Harrison and Cris Cyborg (Image via MMA Fighting/Reddit)

“FIGHT ME THEN,” Harrison wrote in her post. Her fairly casual reply to Rousey’s heated rant indicates that the current UFC women’s bantamweight champion isn’t too bothered by Rousey’s comments. However, the Olympic gold medal winner’s retaliation prompted an unexpected response from a longtime rival who has history with both Harrison and Rousey.

WMMA legend Cris Cyborg responded to Harrison’s X post with her own, writing, “I’ve been trying.” Cyborg entering the fray comes as no surprise given her recent comments on why a potential bout with Kayla Harrison fell through.

The Brazilian WMMA legend alleged in a recent interview that the former PFL double champion was “running” from her back when they shared a roster in PFL. A couple years ago, Cyborg had expressed her disappointment about the fight with Harrison falling through. It seems she has not gotten over it.

The target seems to be painted squarely on the reigning UFC women’s bantamweight champion’s back. After all, that’s what happens when one remains at the top of the sport. That said, this is decidedly not the final chapter in this rivalry and things might get much crazier than they are now!

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