mma / News

Kayla Harrison Thinks Ronda Rousey Is Around People Who Don’t Have Her Best Interests In Mind

January 5, 2017 | Posted by Joseph Lee

In an interview with TMZ, Kayla Harrison spoke about Ronda Rousey’s UFC 207 loss and said she thinks Rousey needs to get away from those who don’t have her best interests at heart. Here are highlights:

On what she expected from her return: “I really expected her to come back with a vengeance and come back bigger and better than ever. But I’m not with her now. I don’t know what her training has been like. I don’t know where her head’s at. When I talked to her a couple weeks ago, she seemed good about (the fight). I think really one thing I’d have done differently – I wouldn’t have had her fight for the title right away. She probably should have had a match before that match, just to get back into the swing of things.”

On what Rousey should do next: “At the end of the day, I’m her friend, and my heart goes out to her, so I don’t want to sit here and talk about what she could’ve, would’ve, should’ve done. I really just hope she’s OK. … I think she really does need to do some soul searching. She needs to figure out what she wants to do with her life and what she wants to accomplish and what really makes Ronda happy. I think she has a lot of people around her who maybe don’t have Ronda’s best interests at heart. So I think she should take a good, hard look at that and maybe go back to the Day Ones. Maybe go back to her family. Maybe go back to her original coaches who helped her be successful and maybe say, ‘OK, these people I know really do care about me as Ronda – not as a fighter, not as a money-making machine, not as an actress, not as a celebrity, but as Ronda.”

On when she’ll fight in MMA: “I wouldn’t say I’ve completely made up my mind because I’ve still never had someone punch me in the face, and I’ve still never had someone put me in a cage and lock the door. But I miss competing and I miss being the best in the world at what I do. I miss that feeling of not just being on the sidelines. So we’ll see.”