"I'd considered reaching out to a nutritionist" - Kayla Harrison on possibly dropping down to bantamweight and challenging Julianna Pena
Kayla Harrison recently expressed her interest in fighting reigning UFC women's bantamweight champion Julianna Pena.
In an interview with ESPN MMA, Harrison admitted that she is considering moving down to 135 pounds. The two-time Olympic gold medalist also claimed she is willing to cut weight and fight Pena in order to prove she is the best in the game.
However, the American revealed that she would take it slowly rather than going through a drastic cut in weight. Speaking about her future plans, the 31-year old Ohio native said:
"I'm considering it [135 pounds]... I heard that Julianna said that she would move up to '45 if they paid her enough. So, that's good news. That means I won't have to chop off an arm. But I had considered reaching out to a nutritionist to see if I could fight 135... Not that it's anything personal with her. I want to be the best and now everyone's talking about her and I have a great opportunity. I have a lot of people that I can fight now to become the best."
Watch Kayla Harrison's full interview with ESPN MMA below:
Harrison is a two-time Olympic gold medallist in judo, having won medals in 2012 and 2016. She eventually transitioned to MMA and won the PFL women's lightweight championship in both 2019 and 2021.
In October 2021, she submitted Taylor Guardado in the second round to win the women's lightweight final. She has been a free agent ever since and has hinted at potential moves to the UFC and Bellator MMA.
There was strong speculation that she was set to re-sign with the PFL. However, with an apparent break down in negotiations, Harrison's future remains up in the air.
Talks between Kayla Harrison and the PFL have hit a snag at the 11th hour, I’m told.
They aren’t dead but road blocks have materialized. She is now assessing her next move and nothing is being ruled out.
Kayla Harrison opens up about her relationship with Ronda Rousey
In the same interview with Marc Raimondi of ESPN, Kayla Harrison also spoke about her former training partner Ronda Rousey.
Harrison was asked if she had heard about Rousey's comeback into wrestling, to which the two-time PFL champ replied:
"I have not. But I heard she’s back to – 'be nice, Kayla' – she’s back to doing her thing, her fake thing. No, I think we kind of are like; I don’t think we’re friends anymore... We’re estranged; yes, perfect word…we were roommates. We traveled the world together at one point. She was buying me groceries because I was a poor 16-year-old with like, five bucks in my account. So, at one point, I really looked up to her and we were close. We were. So, it is sad.”
Kayla is like Ronda except she’s a gold medalist Judoka, undefeated, and nothing like Ronda. twitter.com/SandhuMMA/stat…
While Rousey begins another stint int he WWE, Harrison will be looking to carve her own legacy inside the cage. We can expect an announcement regarding which promotion that may take place in soon.