Kayla Harrison is planning out her next move in the fight game.
The 2019 and 2021 PFL Lightweight Champion announced shortly after winning her second million dollar tournament that she’d be testing the waters of free agency. Two months after the fact, Harrison still has not yet decided on where she’ll be staying.
What About Bellator?
We can imagine that there’s a lot of offers on the table with Bellator MMA being one of the bigger ones. Bellator president Scott Coker has been very interested in signing the former Olympian and has been very vocal about potentially signing Harrison. Consider the judoka interested as well.
“I’ve heard nothing but good things (about Bellator).” Harrison said on ‘Weighing In‘. “I don’t think I’ve a heard a fighter go to Bellator from another promotion and complain. That’s across the board from Austin (Vanderford), to Johnny (Eblen), to Kyoji (Horiguchi). Everybody seems happy there.”
“I met Scott, he seems was very nice, very cordial, seems like a sharp, smart guy. So, I’m excited. I think it’s another great window for me, just another doorway for me to check out and look at the options.
Super-Fight
Should she join this ‘happy’ roster, there is a certain super-fight everybody wants to see her in: Kayla Harrison vs. Cris Cyborg.
Harrison would get cageside seats to Bellator 272 last month in Miami, Florida. In the main event, stood the dominant featherweight force of Cris Cyborg. Harrison wouldn’t watch her in action for long as Cyborg crushed Sinead Kavanagh in only 92 seconds.
The Brazilian is unbeatable in Bellator and near perfect everywhere else. Cyborg is a former UFC, Invicta, and Strikeforce Champion. Winning the Bellator Featherweight belt in 2020 was the cherry on top for Cyborg.
Harrison might not have as many belts as the ‘Grand Slam Champion’ but she has earned gold in the Olympics along with 2 million dollars from back-to-back PFL Championships. Possibly moving on from PFL, Harrison has been eyeing a fight with the divisional great Cyborg for quite some time now.
The GOAT Conversation
She doesn’t think Cyborg is just a great, however. Harrison puts her marbles she’s the greatest 145lber of all time, not her teammate Amanda Nunes, who dispatched Cyborg in under a minute.
“They also happen to have one of the greatest female featherweights…” Harrison said of Cyborg. “I think she’s the greatest featherweight of all time. One of the greatest fighters of all time.”
While Cyborg does have more wins (and belts) than Nunes does at 145, Nunes has had much success at that weight class, too. The ‘Champ-Champ’ currently holds the UFC Featherweight title after winning it off Cyborg in 2018. Nunes has went on to defend the 145 strap against the likes of Felicia Spencer and Megan Anderson.
Do you agree with Kayla Harrison saying Cris Cyborg is the greatest female featherweight of all time?
