UFC Champ Fires Back at Ronda Rousey After Catching Stray in UFC Fighter Pay Rant

Unsurprisingly, the recent comments from UFC Hall of Famer Ronda Rousey didn’t go unnoticed by current UFC Women’s Flyweight Champion Valentina Shevchenko.

The inaugural UFC women’s bantamweight champion and first female titleholder in the promotion’s history, Rousey left combat sports following a 48-second loss to Amanda Nunes at UFC 207 but is now set to make her boxing debut against fellow women’s MMA legend Gina Carano on May 16.

“Rowdy” took aim at the current state of UFC fighter pay during a recent press conference for the Carano fight, and some combat sports fans were caught off guard when Rousey elected to mention Shevchenko by name as part of her criticism of the world’s leading MMA promotion.

Valentina Shevchenko Responds To Ronda Rousey's UFC Fighter Pay Comments

It never seemed likely that Shevchenko was simply going to let Rousey’s comments slide, and “Bullet” took to social media to both defend her use of OnlyFans and also poke fun at the result of the UFC Hall of Famer's last fight.

It's 2026. Fighters using OnlyFans is just a new way to connect with fans 💖
Looks like Ronda slept too long after her last fight in 2016 😴
— Valentina The Bullet Shevchenko (@BulletValentina) March 11, 2026

“It’s 2026. Fighters using OnlyFans is just a new way to connect with fans. Looks like Ronda slept too long after he last fight in 2016”

One of the most successful female fighters in the history of MMA, Shevchenko won the promotion’s women’s flyweight belt in 2018 and proceeded to defended it a total of seven times over the next four years.

Valentina Shevchenko (red gloves) fights Zhang Weili (blue gloves) in the women's flyweight championship bout during UFC 322 at Madison Square Garden. | Ed Mulholland-Imagn Images

A stunning upset-loss to Alexa Grasso ended the 38-year-old’s first title reign before she eventually reclaimed the belt in their trilogy fight, and she’s now defended the flyweight strap an additional two times against Manon Fiorot and two-time UFC Strawweight Champion Weili Zhang.

Return Fight For "Rowdy" Is Generating Massive Attention

It remains to be seen if the war of words between Rousey and Shevchenko will escalate at all, but it certainly looks like Rousey has every intention of speaking her mind during the months leading up to her boxing match with Carano.

Following the UFC’s purchase of Strikeforce, Rousey was immediately named the promotion’s first women’s bantamweight champion and successfully defended her belt via first-round armbar when she and Liz Carmouche met in a historic main event fight at UFC 157.

Ronda Rousey (left) and Gina Carano pose at a press conference for their upcoming MMA featherweight bout at Intuit Dome. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

“Rowdy” stopped every opponent she faced across six title defenses before being knocked out by Holly Holm in a legendary upset at UFC 193. Rousey took more than a year off before she returned at UFC 207 and was stopped by fellow UFC Hall of Famer Nunes, and after that the 39-year-old embarked on a successful professional wrestling career with the WWE.