Kayla Harrison has yet to officially hit 135 pounds on the UFC scale — which she’ll have to do in order to be eligible to win the women’s bantamweight title this Saturday.
The longtime face of PFL fights for UFC gold for the first time when she challenges Julianna Pena in the co-main event of UFC 316. The event takes place at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.
Harrison was able to thwart concerns of a move to bantamweight after signing to the UFC by hitting the mark for both of her octagon appearances — wins over Holly Holm and Ketlen Vieira — but she did so weighing in with the extra pound allotment for non-title fights. Now that she has to cut that extra pound, many believe that extra pound could not only be a challenge before she steps on the scale Friday, but it could effect her in the fight as well.
“I think it’s overblown,” Harrison told MMA Fighting. “I’ve been very disciplined, and I have an excellent team around me, and we have body fat check-ins and calorie check-ins and water and like, there’s a sweet science to it. And I’m right on track, and I trust God and I trust the the process, and we’re all going to see [on Friday].”
Harrison spent most of her career fighting at lightweight, where she captured the PFL season championship titles in 2019 and 2021. Only two of her pre-UFC bouts took place outside of lightweight — a featherweight bout at Invicta FC 43, and a 150-pound catchweight contest in her final PFL bout against Aspen Ladd.
Despite massive success in the PFL, Harrison always wanted to compete for a UFC title. With the promotion dissolving the women’s featherweight division, the two-time Olympic gold medalist had no choice but to change her lifestyle in order to make it work. Harrison believes that the sacrifices she’s making now will create a long-lasting legacy in combat sports.
“I don’t believe in weight cutting, I don’t believe that this is the best decision for me, but I do believe that the sacrifice is worth the reward,” Harrison explained. “It’s not ever something I wanted to do, like, there’s no beating around the bush with that. It’s not fun, it’s not enjoyable, it’s not pleasant, but I have an internal drive and a a goal, and I want to see how high I can climb, and I do feel like It’s all part of my journey,
“Back before I signed with UFC like, where was I going to go? What was I going to do? I was scared. I’d never made the weight before, and I asked God to to help me grow, and he put a hell of a challenge in front of me. I’ve always been a disciplined athlete, but I’ve never been super disciplined about what I eat. It’s not a secret. I won the Olympics on Pizza Rolls and Diet Coke and Oreos.
“I moved away from home at a young age. I mean, I was 15 when I moved to Boston, and I was living in a judo house, and nutrition wasn’t as important, I would say, back then in those years as it is now. So this is an opportunity for me to grow and be even more disciplined and be refined in the fire.”
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