Kayla Harrison has never been the the type to run away from a challenge, so when she declined an offer from the Professional Fighters League to face Bellator featherweight champion Cris Cyborg on Feb. 24 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for its Bellator versus PFL pay-per-view event, it was obvious something was up.
On Tuesday, we found out exactly what it was. Harrison signed with the UFC and will fight former champion Holly Holm in a bantamweight bout at UFC 300 on April 13 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Breaking News: UFC has signed Kayla Harrison!#UFC300 Holly Holm vs Kayla Harrison pic.twitter.com/jQeLItwQmO
— danawhite (@danawhite) January 24, 2024
The big news, besides the signing, is that Harrison will fight at bantamweight, which has a non-title weight limit of 136 pounds. Harrison won the Olympic gold medal in judo at the 2012 London Olympic Games and then repeated at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, at 172 pounds. Harrison fought 15 of her 16 MMA fights, all of which were in the PFL, at lightweight. She had one bout at featherweight.
Making the weight is going to be the biggest challenge for Harrison, who originally signed with the World Series of Fighting as a broadcaster. Harrison, though, ultimate decided she wanted to compete and she made herself into one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world.
She won the PFL's lightweight tournaments in 2019 and 2021 (there was no tournament in 2020 as a result of the pandemic) and advanced to the finals of the 2022 event. However, Harrison was upset by Larissa Pacheco in that bout, dropping a unanimous decision on Nov. 25, 2022.
Harrison has fought once since then when she defeated Aspen Ladd on Nov. 24 by unanimous decision in a bout contested at a maximum of 150 pounds.
With Holm-Harrison added to the card, this is how UFC 300 shapes up:
Zhang Weili versus Yan Xiaonan for women's strawweight title
Justin Gaethje versus Max Holloway for BMF title
Charles Oliveira versus Arman Tsarukyan, No. 1 contender's bout in lightweight
Jiri Prochazka versus Aleksandar Rakic
Calvin Kattar versus Aljamain Sterling
Bo Nickal versus Cody Brundage
Deiveson Figueiredo versus Cody Garbrandt
Jim Miller versus Bobby Green
Holly Holm versus Kayla Harrison
Harrison instantly becomes a leading contender for the UFC's bantamweight title, held by Raquel Pennington. Pennington won the vacant belt on Saturday when he won a decision over Mayra Bueno Silva in the co-main event of UFC 297 in Toronto. She is expected to make her first defense against Julianna Peña.
But Harrison figures to be immediately in the title picture after she fights Holm, particularly if she wins. She adds a lot of star power to a division that has been lacking it recently.