Kayla Harrison is a two-time Olympic gold medalist who is a force to be reckoned with in MMA. While she is an inspiration to many across the world, she credits her journey to the ever-inspiring Ronda Rousey.
Rousey was the trailblazer who convinced Dana White to bring women into the UFC and became one of the sport’s biggest stars. As a matter of fact, she was the company’s first mainstream face before they stumbled on Conor McGregor.
Harrison has “always wanted to be” like Rousey, and it was her achievements that led the Olympic gold medalist to step into the cage. But that’s not it.
For Harrison , Rousey’s influence goes beyond just fighting.
Both women grew up practicing Judo. But Harrison’s judo coaches were quite against her using those skills in MMA and didn’t want anything to do with it when she started her career as a mixed martial artist regardless.
Nobody could blame them. No one, not women at least had made a successful transition like that. Nou until Rousey broke into the scene with UFC and took the world by storm, or an armbar, to be more precise.
“I can’t knock her. She is the reason I started MMA. I just saw how successful she was. I was like dude, anything Ronda can do, I can do better. I always had a chip on my shoulder growing up with Ronda. I just wanted to always be her I guess.”
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Harrison is currently fresh off a win against Ketlen Vieira at UFC 307. However, by her own admission, Harrison feels she was not her best version on the night.
The Olympian reckons she knows why.
The horrors of cutting down to 135-pounds
“It definitely wasn’t my best night in the cage,” Harrison admitted in a recent interview with TMZ, which is of course a rather harsh assessment of her own performance.
Although Vieira made her bleed for the first time in her career, Harrison still controlled their bantamweight fight on the mat, securing a unanimous decision with scores of 30-27, 30-27, and 29-28.
Harrison has now revealed she wasn’t at full strength, having been hospitalized the week before due to a health issue.
“I was, like, peeing blood,” she explained, mentioning she’d been on antibiotics just days before the fight. Originally a PFL lightweight at 155 pounds, Harrison has had to drop 20 pounds to compete in the UFC, a grueling cut taking a toll on her body.
For further reference, she was competing in the Olympics at 78 kgs i.e., 171 lbs!
Now, with back-to-back wins at bantamweight, she’s ready for a breather before a potential title shot against Julianna Peña. “I need a bit of time off — cutting to 135 isn’t easy,” Harrison shared.
Fortunately or unfortunately, Pena wants to call out Amanda Nunes out of retirement before taking on Harrison, so there might be a bit more time there.
