The UFC‘s first women’s bantamweight champion, Ronda Rousey, and current women’s bantamweight titleholder Kayla Harrison have recently taken shots at each other in the media. Rousey called Harrison ‘Irrelevant,’ and Harrison responded with a fight challenge.
The two have known each other for nearly two decades. They worked out together while the older Rousey was preparing for the Olympic Games and as Rousey describes it, they have a complex relationship.
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“Me and Kayla have like a kind of a complicated relationship in that like she came to live in the same house I was and train with us. Like, she had been like sexually abused by her coach for like most of her life like starting at eight to like when it came out and she was like 17, right?
“So, she comes out and she’s just been failed by every single adult in her life, you know, and severely traumatized by some real f**ked up sh*t. And so when she moved into the house, I mean, she was going through like a straight-up mental health crisis,” Rousey said on her YouTube channel.
“And I don’t think anything that went down then ever deserves to be under public scrutiny, you know, but like when she was going through it, I unwillingly was going through it with her. And so I wish her the absolute best in life and all of the success and all the things just like over there. You know, I just, I wish her the best. I just don’t want to be involved, you know?”
Rousey returns to the cage on May 16 against fellow women’s MMA pioneer Gina Carano in the headlining bout of Most Valuable Promotions and Netflix’s first mixed marital arts event. Harrison recently took a swipe at the matchup and Rousey doesn’t think Harrison is seeing the broader picture.
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“Then she’s like coming and talking sh*t about me and Gina. I’m like, dude, we’re doing nothing but help you. We’ve done nothing but help you. And like, I literally have like a vested interest in like developing the heavier divisions. She says she can’t make weight in her division anymore. It’s taken years off of her life, all this stuff. And it’s like, help me help you,” said Rousey.
“Who do you think would promote you at 145? F**king me. Who do you think would help you get paid? F**king me. Who do you think is helping you get paid more in the UFC now because you have someone to give you a competing offer?
“You know, like just I’m trying to feed you. Stop biting my f**king hand. Like, I’m trying to help you out, man … But she’s kind of like my brat little sister in a way where I’m just like, don’t come for me. Okay? Momma’s working. I’m going to have to give you a learning if you’re going to want to f**king start some sh*t.”
