Kayla Harrison’s Bad Blood With Ronda Rousey

Manager Ali Abdelaziz claims that his fighter, Kayla Harrison, the current bantamweight champ, is not on good terms with former UFC bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey.

The comments come ahead of Harrison’s title defense against a returning Amanda Nunes at UFC 324 in January. Harrison has a history with Rousey that dates back to their time competing in judo. Kayla explained that her losses to Rousey when she was a teenager occurred while she was going through “dark circumstances” and when she was less experienced. Harrison also commented on reports that Rousey could make a combat sports return against boxer Katie Taylor. Harrison expressed clear skepticism about the possibility. And yet, Taylor is keen on making that fight.

“Absolutely, it’s an interesting fight. It’s a fight that will interest and capture the imagination of the fans and that’s what boxing needs. I’d be very, very happy to fight Ronda. I’m very open to these kinds of fights where all generations can sit down and watch boxing. “I’m very, very open… to fighting Ronda Rousey. Absolutely open to it, for sure. [Rousey] has such a huge following. It would be an amazing privilege to step into the ring with such a legend—not just in UFC, but women’s sports as a whole. We’ll see what happens,” Taylor stated

The Feud

Abdelaziz has now insisted that Harrison’s feelings about Rousey are personal. 

“There’s a lot of beef. In the judo days, a lot of bad things happened between these two teams, and I think it’ll be one of the biggest – it’s not Amanda. I think Ronda Rousey-Kayla Harrison is one of the biggest fights in UFC history. It might do bigger numbers than Khabib (Nurmagomedov) and (Conor) McGregor because there’s a lot of nasty sh*t in the closet. I don’t think they like each other. I don’t think they respect each other. Kayla can say whatever she wants, but I know deep down inside she doesn’t like Ronda,” Abdelaziz said