Former UFC bantamweight champion Julianna Pena wants to see Kayla Harrison beat the scale before she considers a potential clash between the two.
On Saturday, April 13, Harrison — a two-time PFL champion — will make her Octagon debut when she meets ex-titleholder and perennial contender Holy Holm as part of a stacked UFC 300 card in Las Vegas. With a win over Holm, Harrison will immediately thrust herself into the bantamweight title picture, but her impending battle with ‘The Preacher’s Daughter’ isn’t the only one she’s facing in her highly anticipated promotional debut.
Under the PFL banner, Harrison regularly competed at 155 pounds — a weight class that doesn’t even exist in the UFC. For the first time in her career, she will drop down to 135, which has many pundits, including Julianna Pena, questioning what version of Harrison we’ll see in the Octagon.
“Kayla Harrison is fighting a battle right now that she’s gotta contend with and that’s making 135 pounds because we know that there’s nobody in the 145-pound division. You can’t name ten 145’ers so first off, let’s just see if she can make it,” Pena said during an appearance on MMA Today with Alan Jouban and Andreas Hale.
“Second off, let’s see how she performs because, in her fights at 155, she’s already draining and cutting a ton of weight. So when you cut that much and then come down to 135, you’re a shell of what you were at 145 or even 155. Let’s see how she performs and if she can make that, and then we can talk [about a potential fight]. As far as I’m concerned, she was given a punch of gimmie fights in the PFL. Holy Holm will be a very big test for her and if she can overcome Holy Holm, we’ll see.”
"Kayla Harrison is fighting a battle right now that she's got to be able to contend with, and that's making 135lbs."@VenezuelanVixen likes a Kayla Harrison fight, but says she has more to prove beyond her #UFC300 debut
Source: MMA Today w/@AlanJouban & @AndreasHale pic.twitter.com/HMLAuPFUxt
— MMA on SiriusXM (@MMAonSiriusXM) March 21, 2024
Julianna Pena Sees Kayla Harrison as a ‘Worthy Adversary’
Harrison, 16-1, made her Professional Fighters League debut in 2018 and went on an undefeated run, earning dominant victories over her first 15 opponents before suffering her first setback against Brazilian standout Larissa Pacheco in the 2022 PFL lightweight women’s tournament championship. Harrison closed out her contract with the PFL in November with a win against former UFC standout Aspen Ladd before signing with Dana White and Co.
“Kayla’s a big name. She talks a lot of crap,” Pena added. “She’s a worthy adversary and that’s definitely a fight I want later on down the line.
Check out highlights from Kayla Harrison’s impressive PFL run below:
