Two-time
Professional Fighters League champion Kayla
Harrison has signed with the
UFC for an Octagon debut on the biggest stage possible.
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UFC CEO Dana White announced Tuesday night that Harrison will make
her bantamweight debut against former champion Holly Holm at
UFC
300 on April 13. Harrison has competed at both lightweight and
featherweight but never at 135 pounds during her 17-fight
professional tenure.
A two-time Olympic gold medalist, Harrison fulfilled her PFL
contract at the 2023 Championships, where she earned a unanimous
verdict against Aspen Ladd
in a 150-pound catchweight affair. Harrison was twice a PFL
champion at 155 pounds but came up short in her third title bid,
falling to Larissa
Pacheco in a massive upset at the conclusion of the 2022
season. Thus far, Harrison has only cut to 145 pounds once, when
she defeated Courtney
King via second-round TKO at Invicta FC 43.
Holm, meanwhile, is coming off a second-round submission loss to
Mayra
Bueno Silva — a result that was later overturned to a no
contest when the Brazilian failed a drug test — at UFC on ESPN 49
this past July. Prior to that, the Jackson-Wink MMA standout had
been victorious in three of her last four Octagon appearances,
besting the likes of Yana Santos,
Irene
Aldana and Raquel
Pennington.
UFC 300 takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and features
a “BMF” title tilt between Justin
Gaethje and Max
Holloway at lightweight. Additionally, strawweight queen
Weili
Zhang will defend her belt against Xiaonan
Yan.
Breaking News: UFC has signed Kayla
Harrison!#UFC300
Holly Holm vs Kayla Harrison pic.twitter.com/jQeLItwQmO— danawhite (@danawhite)
January 24, 2024