Kayla Harrison has a clear path to a UFC title shot, but she’s more than happy to take a stop on the road if asked.
That could be what lies ahead for Harrison, the two-time PFL champion who made a successful octagon debut this past April at UFC 300, where she scored a dominant win over Holly Holm. Harrison’s PFL titles and Olympic judo gold medals already have fans buzzing about her moving to the front of the line of the bantamweight division, with champion Raquel Pennington expected to face Julianna Peña sometime before the end of 2024.
Ailin Perez, 3-0 in the UFC’s 135-pound division, recently called out Harrison for a No. 1 contender fight, and even though Harrison likely doesn’t have to answer that challenge, she just might.
“I’ve heard that too,” Harrison said speaking to the media ahead of Thursday’s 2024 UFC Hall of Fame ceremony in Las Vegas. “The twerker and a judo girl. Listen, I’d fight both of them on the same night, so it’s fine. I’ll fight anyone. I’m not saying no to anybody.”
“Sometimes it’s just a little outrageous, I don’t really know what to say,” Harrison added. “You’re twerking, I can’t—I don’t know how to handle this. Yes, I will fight you.”
The top of the bantamweight division is in limbo at the moment with Peña waiting to fight Pennington, Pennington still recovering from injury, and Harrison recovering from her own injury while waiting to hear from the matchmakers.
Harrison talked about the importance of maintaining her diet in the interim after years of not having to cut lower than 145 pounds.
“To be honest, I had to have surgery after my fight,” Harrison said. “I had to have a ligament in my hand fixed, and then I got an infection, so to say that I went a little bit relaxed on the diet is an understatement. And it’s crazy how bad I felt. I’m back on it now, thank God, but I didn’t feel good and I didn’t realize how important that part of my discipline is, especially now.
“One-thirty-five is not easy, it’s not a walk in the park, it took 12 weeks of me being superhuman and super focused to make that weight and I have to do it again and again and again and again, so it’s going to be a lifestyle change.”
Should Pennington vs. Peña be booked in the next six months, Harrison would like to be on the same card if she does end up fighting again. At the moment, she’s in the dark as to what the UFC’s plans are for her.
“That’s above my pay grade,” Harrison said. “We’ve got to talk to Hunter and Sean and Mick and Dana, I know that they have a good plan for me. I believe in this company, I believe in their vision, if they need me to smash another skull before I smash [Pennington or Peña’s] skulls, that’s fine.”
