Kayla Harrison responds to Ronda Rousey's rant: 'We're different'

Kayla Harrison has finally responded in full to Ronda Rousey's lengthy rant about her, and admits she could have been "a lot meaner" with thoughts on her fellow Olympian-turned-MMA star.

Rousey (12-2) will make her return to competition after a decade on May 16 when she takes on Gina Carano (7-1) in the first Netflix-streamed MMA event. Rousey, the UFC's first female champion, is selling the matchup as a dream fight and the "biggest" bout in the sport's history – at least on the women's side.

Harrison, who is currently holding the UFC women's bantamweight title that Rousey introduced and is preparing to make her first defense against Amanda Nunes later this year, scoffed at that notion and called the Carano fight "irrelevant" to the current landscape of MMA.

That comment triggered Rousey, who went on a multi-minute rant during a press conference in New York earlier this month. The clip went viral as Rousey tore down Harrison's accomplishments and took some personal shots. Harrison initially offered a brief reply on social media, but Saturday appeared on the UFC Fight Night 274 pre-fight show on Paramount+ and was asked about the situation.

"I can't imagine what it would be like for someone to come in and beat everything I've ever done," Harrison said. "That would be hard. I get it. Imagine hating me and I'm just over here in my backyard feeding chickens. It's got to be rough. I think that the part that bothers me the most about Ronda is, at one point, she was a real athlete. She was training for the Olympics. She's an Olympic bronze medalist. She became UFC champion. She was really trying to chase greatness.

"I will never take away the fact that Ronda is probably the most important female fighter. If it wasn't for her, for sure, I wouldn't be where I'm at. I wouldn't have a job. But this fight is not the greatest fight of all-time. It's between someone who hasn't fought in 10 years and is coming off two knockout losses and another legend, another pioneer who hasn't fought in 17 years and is in her 40s. So don't call it the greatest fight of all time. I'm chasing greatness. You're chasing money. We're different."