Ahead of her scheduled Women's Bantamweight Title match against Amanda Nunes, Kayla Harrison recently opened up about Ronda Rousey's UFC legacy. While the 36-year-old Harrison believes Rousey helped pave the way for women in the UFC, she also questioned Rousey's run in the promotion.
Discussing on Deep Waters, the UFC women's bantamweight champion clarified that Rousey's achievements do not extend to the talent of opponents she defeated in the cage. “She paved the way. Like, I'm standing on her shoulders, and for that I am grateful,” Harrison said while praising Rousey's UFC achievement.
However, later in the podcast, she also opened up and claimed that Rousey dominated against inferior opponents. “Dominating women who picked up gloves three years ago at a cardio-kickboxing class and said, ‘I think I'm going to try this,'” she said.
The two fighters, Rousey and Harrison, share a long history that goes back long before their MMA and UFC careers. Both women competed at the highest levels of judo, with Rousey defeating Harrison twice when they were younger.
However, despite those early defeats and setbacks, Harrison did not give up and instead went on to become a two-time Olympic gold medalist and is the current UFC Bantamweight champion. It should also be noted that Rousey is three years older than Harrison and defeated her in Judo when she was 17 or 18, while Harrison was 14 or 15.
Article Continues BelowLater, in their careers, Rousey won the bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, while Harrison secured gold in 2012 and again in 2016. Later, both women experienced extremely successful UFC and combat sports careers.

