Not so fast: Olympic gold medalist Kayla Harrison may not be shooting for a three-peat as the PFL‘s women’s lightweight champion after all.
Last month, MMA journalist Ariel Helwani reported that the PFL is the strong front-runner to re-sign Harrison. In a follow-up tweet to the report, he stated that the deal was as good as done.
Harrison herself confirmed that she was nearing a deal with the PFL. Then, Thursday morning, things took a turn.
Harrison also sent out the following tweet shortly before Helwani’s report:
Kayla Harrison has been competing in MMA since 2018, with the entirety of her 12 professional fights taking place in the PFL. The Olympian has remained undefeated, with each victory being either a finish or a dominant unanimous decision. Most recently, Harrison won the PFL’s women’s lightweight season for the second time when she defeated Taylor Guardado at PFL 10.
This latest development will no doubt give hope to the many MMA fans who remain eager to see Harrison face a fresh batch of competition. It also will no doubt reinvigorate UFC‘s and Bellator‘s efforts to land Harrison.
According to Helwani’s January report, the UFC was making a strong push to land Harrison. In fact, White publicly invited Harrison to prove how good she is by fighting Amanda Nunes, who at the time of those comments had not lost a fight since 2014. Bellator President Scott Coker also stated that he would try to woo Harrison into the Bellator fold.
Numerous people within the industry, including WMMA legend Miesha Tate, believe Harrison should join the UFC, with others arguing that she should join any larger promotion with a deeper talent pool.
MMA News will no doubt keep you abreast of all the latest updates on this developing story.