Kayla Harrison on Ronda Rousey’s complicated legacy: ‘You cannot deny the fact that she shattered a ceiling for women’
At her peak, Ronda Rousey was the only person on the UFC roster who could rival Conor McGregor in sheer popularity and attention but her rapid fall from grace almost matched her ascension to superstardom.
In less than a four-year span, Rousey helped usher women into the UFC. She became a six-time defending champion but then suffered a brutal knockout loss to Holly Holm and only made one more appearance getting blitzed by Amanda Nunes in 48 seconds before leaving the sport forever. While she did get inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame, Rousey rarely addressed her losses or her exit from the sport until more recently when she revealed that a severe history of concussions really left her no choice but to stop fighting.
Her complicated legacy left Rousey believing that if she attended a UFC event these days that she would face a hostile audience rather than fans waiting to greet her with open arms.
Kayla Harrison, who counted Rousey as a roommate and a teammate when both were competing in judo for the United States, understands that feelings are mixed when it comes to the former UFC bantamweight champion, but her impact on the sport is undeniable.
“I think for me, no matter who Ronda is as a person and no matter what she says or thinks or how she does things or how she handles losses, how she handles any of it, no matter what, you cannot deny the fact that she shattered a ceiling for women,” Harrison told MMA Fighting. “Dana White went on record multiple times saying that he would never have women in the UFC. She f*cking blasted right through that.
“To me, that’s her legacy. No matter what she says or what she does, of course humans are going to be humans, people deal with things the way they deal with things but she paved the way when there was no way. That I am eternally grateful [for].”
Long before she was conquering the PFL, and becoming a high-profile free agency addition to the UFC roster, Harrison looked up to Rousey as the gold standard when it came to her dreams of becoming an Olympic champion.
While she didn’t win gold, Rousey was the first American woman to win a medal in judo when she captured bronze at the 2008 games in Beijing, China. Four years later, Harrison surpassed Rousey by becoming the first American to ever win gold in judo and then she did it again at the 2016 Olympics.
Much like their shared history in judo, Harrison eventually followed in Rousey’s footsteps when it came to MMA as well.
“At one point, she was my role model and I lived with her, I trained with her,” Harrison said. “Anything she did, I wanted to do better. I didn’t know what the hell I was going to do after the Olympics. I didn’t know where I was going to go. She showed me this path and then she made that path really wide.”
Harrison can’t say for certain what would have happened in her post-Olympics career if Rousey hadn’t stormed into the UFC and became a massive draw for the company.
While women’s MMA existed long before Rousey arrived, her impact changed the game, especially where the UFC was involved.
That’s why Harrison still holds Rousey in such high regard regardless of how she retired or the way she handled herself on the way out.
“[Women’s MMA] went from like oh maybe you could make a little bit of money and maybe girls can fight, too, to like there are young girls all over the world right now that are training MMA and who are asskickers and who are not afraid to be big and strong and powerful and confident,” Harrison said. “Ronda is a part of that. That’s history. That’s powerful.
“That just goes to show it doesn’t matter who you are, you can do great things. Again, no matter how she deals with it, or what she says about it, the end of her career, she made a way when there wasn’t a way. That’s to me, her legacy.”