Kayla Harrison Ready to Fulfil Destiny at UFC 316

Kayla Harrison will challenge for the women’s bantamweight championship at UFC 316 for the first time in her career. She seems to have been on a collision course with the elite in the world since her judo days; however, now, she has the chance to call herself ‘the best in the world’.

It won’t be easy, however, as Harrison clashes with Juliana Pena, the reigning champion and a woman who is no stranger to the big stage against a formidable foe.

With that being said, despite her experience, it appears, on paper at least, that Pena is outgunned and could struggle. The odds suggest the same, having her at a +400 underdog, despite being the champion. All eyes are pointing towards Kayla Harrison lifting gold on Saturday night.

Kayla Harrison – Judo Days and MMA Transition

A female judoka, making her way to MMA after a successful career… sound familiar? The first to do it successfully was Ronda Rousey, someone who is greatly unappreciated in MMA today due to the way that her career finished. The two even shared a well-renowned judo coach, Jimmy Pedro.

Harrison, on the other hand, was far more successful than Rousey in judo. Rowdy won a bronze medal in 2004 at the Olympic Games, however, Harrison went two better. She won gold in 2012 and 2016 Olympics, becoming the first and only American to win gold at the Olympics to date.

Again, following in the footsteps of Rousey, Harrison transitioned into MMA after retiring from judo, choosing to take just under two years away before making her PFL debut.

In just her seventh fight, she win the 2019 PFL women’s lightweight tournament, staying undefeated at 7-0. She finished everyone… apart from Larissa Pacheco. She went on to win the 2021 tournament, again with ease, progressing to 12-0, finishing everyone on her way.

2022 was different, however. The PFL tournament seemed to be going stale. The title seemed to inevitably be Harrison’s. She was going for a three-peat; she was 15-0 and was meeting Pacheco in the final, a woman whom she had twice defeated. What played out, however, shocked everyone.

Pacheco became the first person to hand Harrison a loss and kick from from the realms of the undefeated. Where Harrison struggled is that she couldn’t get the fight to the floor, and she wasn’t ready to hang with the Brazilian on the feet.

She was able to bounce back from this defeat in a catch weight fight with Aspen Ladd for the PFL, but it would also mark a huge turning point in the career of Harrison.

UFC Bound

It was announced that at the historic UFC 300 that Kayla Harrison would finally be making her UFC debut. As if UFC 300 wasn’t big enough, Harrison would be facing former champion and fan favourite, Holly Holm, a great test for Harrison at this point in her career. It would answer a big question as to whether she was ready to hang with the best and she passed that test with flying colours. In a little under seven minutes, all of which were dominant, Harrison submitted Holm and put the whole division on notice.