{"id":626684,"date":"2026-04-23T23:16:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T23:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/626684\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T23:16:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T23:16:09","slug":"khamzat-chimaev-scorches-ungrateful-ronda-rousey-after-ufc-legends-fighter-pay-criticism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/626684\/","title":{"rendered":"Khamzat Chimaev scorches &#8216;ungrateful&#8217; Ronda Rousey after UFC legend&#8217;s fighter pay criticism"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>UFC middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev didn\u2019t hold back in response to Ronda Rousey\u2019s recent harsh criticism of the promotion.<\/p>\n<p>UFC Hall of Famer Ronda Rousey is weeks away from her highly anticipated return to Mixed Martial Arts after a 10-year absence. Rousey and fellow women\u2019s MMA pioneer Gina Carano headline a stacked card on Netflix next month, featuring the returns of Nate Diaz, Mike Perry, and former UFC heavyweight titleholder Francis Ngannou.<\/p>\n<p>Ahead of her return to the cage, Rousey has been especially critical of her former employers, specifically when it comes to discussing UFC fighter pay. Rousey recently labeled <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bjpenn.com\/mma-news\/ronda-rousey\/ronda-rousey-labels-ufc-worst-places-fighters-dana-white-fighter-pay\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the UFC a lower-class organization<\/a> in modern combat sports and has repeatedly poked fun at the upcoming White House card.<\/p>\n<p>UFC commentator Joe Rogan and several other fighters have praised Rousey for her hard-line stance against the promotion in recent weeks. But one current UFC star, middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev, took the opposite route.<\/p>\n<p>Khamzat Chimaev: Ronda Rousey \u2018ungrateful\u2019 with UFC fighter pay criticism<\/p>\n<p>In a recent Vlog posted to his <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/e-IQrl2iVnY?si=9x21AEkP4ln-sAXk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">YouTube<\/a> channel, Chimaev weighed in on Rousey\u2019s recent remarks about the UFC.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI hate it, ungrateful,\u201d Chimaev said of Rousey\u2019s comments.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf they pay good or they don\u2019t, who cares? When she was an Olympic champ, what did she make then? Zero.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rousey is likely one of the highest earners in UFC history. At the height of her stardom, Rousey was a global superstar and arguably the face of MMA during her reign as women\u2019s bantamweight champion.<\/p>\n<p>UFC fighter pay remains a hot-button topic in combat sports. Several top names, including Ngannou, have criticized UFC CEO Dana White and the matchmakers for how they approach contract negotiations.<\/p>\n<p>Ahead of his UFC 328 headliner vs. Sean Strickland, Chimaev is taking a hard-line stance against Rousey\u2019s comments.<\/p>\n<p>What is your prediction for Khamzat Chimaev vs. Sean Strickland? Let us know in the comments!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UFC middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev didn\u2019t hold back in response to Ronda Rousey\u2019s recent harsh criticism of the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":626685,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,958,786,44069,4120,785,15809,43022,85,787,266293],"class_list":{"0":"post-626684","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-dana-white","11":"tag-fighting","12":"tag-gina-carano","13":"tag-khamzat-chimaev","14":"tag-mma","15":"tag-ronda-rousey","16":"tag-sean-strickland","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-ufc","19":"tag-ufc-328"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=626684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626684\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/626685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=626684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=626684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=626684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}