The only way for two-time Olympic gold medalist Kayla Harrison to get into the UFC was through the bantamweight division. The UFC was quite clear with her on that when they signed her for a UFC 300 fight against Holly Holm.
The only problem? Harrison won her gold medals at 170 pounds, and has fought most of her MMA career at 155 pounds. She cut down to featherweight once in 2020, but has never fought at bantamweight.
It looked like there was a chance she might sign with the UFC in 2021 to fight Amanda Nunes at featherweight. But on the night many expected “Judo Kayla” to step into the Octagon to challenge her, “Lioness” lost her bantamweight belt, scuttling those plans. The women’s featherweight division was also scuttled soon after … leaving Harrison with no choice but to cut down to 135.
“There was definitely a part of me that was like, ‘F— that,’” she said in a new interview with MMA Junkie. “‘You’ve done enough. Why would you spend the last part of your career cutting an extra 10 pounds? Like, why?’”
“Then there was another part piece of me that was like, ‘Well, we grow at the edges of our comfort zone, and this is you being all in. It doesn’t get much harder than this. You’re cutting to a new weight class, you’re fighting in the promotion, and you’re fighting the legend. This is it. You’re either all in or not in.’ I liked that, and I think that brings out the best version of me.”
The big narrative surrounding her UFC debut against former champion Holm is how she’ll look on the scale, and how she’ll compete after. Harrison (whose manager claims has completed a test cut to 135 before agreeing to the fight) has no doubts on being able to fight to her best abilities.
“I don’t think I’m going to lose anything,” she said. “I think we’re going to see the best version of me. I’ve been disciplined. I’ve been dedicated. I haven’t skipped any steps. I haven’t left a stone unturned. My team is all in, I’m all in, my family’s all in, and I think I’m about to shine really f—ing bright.”
UFC 300 goes down on April 13th from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.