Kayla Harrison doesn’t care for Julianna Peña or her unfounded accusations.
Known as one of the most brash fighters in all of women’s MMA, Peña once again grabbed headlines for what she said outside of the cage recently instead of her performances inside of it, this time accusing Harrison of using performance-enhancing drugs. Peña offered little in the way of evidence to support her claim but remained adamant that there was “no question” Harrison used PEDs, if not now than previously in her career. And unsurprisingly, Harrison didn’t take kindly to those aspersions.
“It pisses me off,” Harrison said Monday on The MMA Hour. “Number one, it pisses me off because never once have I tested positive for anything, ever, in the history of my very long drug-testing career. And number two, don’t f*cking say things like that if you don’t have hard evidence. That’s a serious thing to talk about, to me. I take cheating very seriously.
“I have always competed clean, I carry myself to a high standard, and I know that I haven’t always competed against people who were clean, but I’m not going to throw accusations out just because I feel like I think they’re not clean. That’s bullshit. And I think it’s bullshit because she’s just building in an excuse for when I whoop her ass.
“So I’m annoyed by it, and at the same time, what a compliment. I’m 100 percent natty and you all think I’m on steroids. Because God forbid anyone ever work hard and be disciplined and have a great team around them and have results from that. God forbid anyone train from the time they were six years until until the time they’re 34 years old and develop a physique that was built to beat the shit out of people. God forbid someone believe in themselves and work hard and succeed. It’s f*cked up. She’s got to be cheating!”
Of all the fighters to accuse of taking PEDs, Harrison is uniquely well-prepared to defend herself from the claims. A two-time Olympic gold medalist in judo, Harrison has been competing and submitting to drug tests for over two decades, explaining that she first signed up with USADA 22 years ago.
“Twelve [years old]. I was in middle school,” Harrison said when asked about her drug-testing history. “I remember it vividly because they went to my middle school and I was actually home sick that day. I was in the top five on the national roster for judo, and once you enter the top five, you automatically go into USADA’s drug testing pool.
“I’ve never failed a single test, never had anything. I think I’ve had — not a failed test but where you miss [the tester], they come and you’re not [there], I’ve had maybe two or three of those my whole life. There was a point where I was getting drug-tested — because you also get drug tested in competition by WADA when you compete on the international circuit — there was a point, I think in December of 2015 before the Olympics, where I got drug tested in China, drug tested in Korea, drug tested in Japan, then I came home and got drug tested. So I got drug tested four times in the span of one month.”
And while Peña may view her accusations as simply fight promotion, for Harrison, it’s more than that.
“It pisses me off because I’ve worked really hard my whole life an to be an athlete and to be a competitor,” Harrison said. “In my mind, we are held to a different standard. I would never make false accusations, because what I say, the public takes in and now is going to spew out because Julianna Pena says I’m on steroids. So to me, I’m not ever going to say something about someone unless I know it’s true, because I’m in the spotlight and people listen to what I say. To me it just shows no class.”
One day, Harrison may get the opportunity to make Peña pay for her words. The two-time PFL champion made her UFC debut back in April, submitting Holly Holm at UFC 300. The win immediately inserted Harrison into the bantamweight title picture, which is where her sights are currently set. And should she get there, Harrison knows that it will be entirely due to her own hard work.
“I just don’t care anymore,” Harrison said. “I know the truth and I’m happy with everything I’ve accomplished and I’m going to accomplish. And I’ll never fail a drug test. You know why? Because I don’t f*cking cheat.”
