Kayla Harrison thinks Ronda Rousey might be stretching the truth with some of her stories.
Rousey returns to action for the first time since 2016 when she takes on Gina Carano in the main event of Most Valuable Promotion’s first MMA event, which takes place May 16 at Intuit Dome in Los Angeles and airs live on Netflix. The former UFC bantamweight champion has done everything she can to hype up the show—which also sees heavyweight star Francis Ngannou in action against Philipe Lins, and fan favorites Nate Diaz and Mike Perry throw down—but Harrison takes Rousey’s words with a grain of salt.
Speaking to Jorge Masvidal on the Death Row MMA podcast, Harrison bristled when her American Top Team teammate jokingly called Rousey “old mentor” and that led to Harrison calling out Rousey for a possible fabrication.
“Oh my God, bro, do not get me started,” Harrison said. “Do not call her that. I don’t think we should talk about this because I don’t think I have anything nice to say.”
It’s clear Harrison has her issues with Rousey, though the two were previously key members of the United States’ women’s judo Olympic program. Rousey became the first American woman to medal in judo when she won bronze at the 2008 games, with Harrison later topping that feat when she gold in 2012 (the only American, man or woman, to accomplish this) and then did so again in 2016 before eventually transitioning to MMA.
In the past, when asked about Rousey, Harrison has been respectful and given Rousey credit for her influence on both judo and women’s MMA. However, she has also made it clear she wants to be recognized for her own accomplishments and not compared to Rousey.
And she has no issue calling Rousey out when she feels the former UFC star is embellishing her achievements.
“I saw something the other day—ugh, do I do it? Yeah, I’m going to do it—Ronda was talking about back in the day,” Harrison said. “So in judo, we have this thing called Ippon Dori. You’re out in the middle and it’s live gos, so if you throw, whoever wins stays. Say you and I are going, it’s like king of the hill, last man standing. So there’s no time limit. We could have a 30-second go or 30 minutes.
“So she’s online telling this story about how, ‘Yeah, I had a lot of pride so I’d be out there for an hour with these girls and then finally a 90-kilo guy would take pity on me and come out and throw me.’ Dude, that is literally a blatant f*cking lie. Now you’re just making shit up. That never happened.”
Speaking of embellishing, Harrison wants Rousey to settle down when it comes to over-promoting the MVP MMA event. Rousey has been vocal about the card being superior to the UFC’s upcoming White House offering, and frequently touted the importance of her fight with Carano, a fellow women’s MMA pioneer.
That all sounds fine to Harrison, but don’t ask her to buy into the hype.
“‘Best card in the history of fighting,’ haven’t you heard?” Harrison said. “[Rousey] said this is the best female fight of all time.”
“How old is Gina?” Harrison added. “She hasn’t fought in 17 years. Like, shut up.”
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