UFC fans were treated to an unexpected gift late Tuesday when it was announced not only was Kayla Harrison finally joining the UFC but her anticipated debut matchup had already been added to one of the biggest cards of the year.
The former PFL lightweight champion and two-time Olympic gold medallist judoka will face former women’s bantamweight titleholder Holly Holm in a featured 135-pound bout on the upcoming UFC 300 card on April 13.
And yes, Harrison is set to compete at 135 pounds, which is perhaps the most notable detail of the entire signing.
First things first, this is a great addition to a milestone event. It adds a new layer of intrigue to a card that already boasted several former champions, top prospects, and excellent style matchups but has been maligned overall – at least in comparison to the UFC 299 lineup that is equally if not more stacked from top to bottom.
UFC 300 may still lack that elite blockbuster main event at the top of the card – unless you consider the BMF bout between Justin Gaethje and Max Holloway a worthy headliner for a special event like this one – but make no mistake Harrison vs. Holm is a home run both for the event and for the division as a whole.
The women’s 135-pound weight class crowned a new champion this past weekend when Raquel Pennington claimed the vacant title at UFC 297 with a unanimous decision over Mayra Bueno Silva. The five-round fight was panned by fans and fighters alike and, as soon as the forgettable 25 minutes had elapsed, enthusiasm for the future of that division began to evaporate.
In the hours and days since Pennington had her hand raised, though, some of the pessimism has morphed quickly into optimism.
Former 135- and 145-pound women’s champ Amanda Nunes teased during an appearance on the UFC 297 post-fight show that she could be open to a return after announcing her retirement following UFC 289 this past June.
Then, fellow former champion and current No. 1 contender Julianna Pena, who hasn’t fought since 2022 but is planning a return this summer, went on the offensive Monday by dubbing UFC 297’s co-headliner a “snooze-fest” and calling out the new champ.
Pena is on the verge of returning, which could spark a new rivalry with Pennington and possibly reignite an old one with Nunes if the Brazilian unretires, and now you add Harrison into the mix? Suddenly, the 2024 outlook for the top of women’s bantamweight division doesn’t appear so dour.
Harrison’s inclusion is contingent, of course, on her being able to successfully and healthily make the weight while not completely depleting herself before fighting a former world champion and future Hall of Famer.
If Harrison is able to fight at the high level at which she is accustomed to competing, oddsmakers are anticipating she will handily defeat Holm.
Harrison opened as more than a three-to-one betting favourite (-310 opening odds according to BestFightOdds). The 42-year-old Holm is coming off a submission loss to Bueno Silva in July but holds two victories over Pennington and her most famous win in the UFC remains her UFC 196 title fight knockout of Olympic bronze medallist Ronda Rousey, a former training partner of Harrison from their judo days.
The newest addition to the UFC roster will face her biggest challenge before she comes face to face with Holm.
In theory, the UFC could’ve made this a featherweight bout but decided against it after essentially shutting down the women’s 145-pound division after Nunes, the former two-weight champion, announced her retirement. There was a dearth of talent and Nunes only defended the 145-pound title twice (against Felicia Spencer at UFC 250 in 2020 and Megan Anderson at UFC 259 in 2021) after initially winning it from Cris Cyborg at UFC 232 late in 2018.
Getting Harrison to agree to compete at 135 pounds feels akin to when Dana White and the UFC arbitrarily forced former world No. 1 featherweight Cris Cyborg to compete at a catchweight of 140 pounds in her first two fights with the organization in 2016 before a women’s featherweight division and title were introduced the following year.
The former Strikeforce and Invicta titleholder and current Bellator champ famously documented her agonizing cuts down to 140 where she estimated she shed approximately 26 pounds of water weight in the two or three days before stepping on the scale, a dangerously high percentage of her body weight.
The UFC and other MMA organizations take more precautions with their athletes cutting weight than they did even back in 2016, however it can still be a dangerous process for the athletes and we often see a fighter impact their performance on fight night.
How painful a challenge will this be for Harrison? Suffice it to say she did not anticipate she would ever compete at 135 pounds at the outset of her mixed martial arts training following her second Olympic triumph more than seven years ago.
Harrison won her gold medals at London 2012 and Rio 2016 competing in the 78-kilogram division, which is just shy of 172 pounds. She has only fought at 145 pounds in MMA once, back in 2020 when she finished Courtney King with a second-round technical knockout.
The 33-year-old, who trains out of the American Top Team in Florida, stands five-foot-eight and most of her MMA bouts have been contested at 155 pounds. Her most recent outing this past November took place at a 150-pound catchweight; she defeated former UFC fighter Aspen Ladd who notably went the distance with Pennington in a three-rounder in her final UFC bout in 2022.
Harrison is 16-1 as a pro with her lone loss being a unanimous decision to Larrisa Pacheco where all three judges scored the bout three rounds to two (48-47) for Pacheco, a fighter Harrison holds two previous wins over.
“When I started competing, my goal was to be the best…the Olympic champion of #MMA,” Harrison wrote in a caption Wednesday for an Instagram post that showed her wearing a UFC hoodie. “The @UFC presents me with the opportunity to be just that. It’s been an amazing journey to reach this point, and I’m grateful for every step along the path. The highs and lows have all shaped me and made me an even better version of myself. God’s timing is perfect, and I am sure of one thing: My time is now. Let’s goooooo!”
