Manage your account
…
An MMA career defined not by hype but by expectation, not by "if" but "when," finally reached its expected destination at UFC 316 on Saturday.
Kayla Harrison, the two-time Olympic judo gold medalist and two-time PFL lightweight champion, became a UFC champion with a second-round submission win over bantamweight titleholder Julianna Peña.
After receiving her belt, Harrison invited her next opponent into the Octagon for a face-off. Amanda Nunes, the retired two-belt UFC champ, was in attendance and confirmed she would come out of retirement to face Harrison.
"We knew this was going to happen, right?" Nunes said.
Peña's bid to keep her belt took a major hit in the first round — which already wasn't going well — when she landed a pair illegal upkicks to Harrison's head. Referee Vitor Ribeiro immediately stepped in and docked the champ a point, making an upset on the scorecards a major long shot.
The second round went similarly badly for the champ, right up until Harrison got Peña in a Kimura and made her tap out quickly. It wasn't a fair fight from the moment Harrison entered the Octagon looking like she was double-digit pounds heavier than her opponent, and it was lopsided to the point that Harrison would have been up three points at the end of the second round.
Despite some tension the week of the fight, Peña was gracious in expected defeat and shared prayers with Harrison before the win was made official.
Harrison, who was competing at 155 pounds a couple years ago, revealed after the fight she was on the verge of quitting while struggling through her weight cut to 135 pounds.
"Only God can get that last pound off of me, I can't do it," Harrison said. "I'm not strong enough, it's too hard. You've got to go to a bad place.
Now awaits Nunes, the former UFC champ who was earmarked for a clash with Harrison for years while her prospective rival was in the PFL. The result will be arguably the most hyped matchup in women's MMA history.
Harrison has been the next big thing in women's MMA since before she entered the sport. She was the first American, and remains the only American, to ever win an Olympic gold medal in judo, and she did so twice.
Ability was never the question. Instead, it was unclear if the weight class would ever be right. Compared to the rest of her UFC peers, Harrison is an enormous fighter. She signed with the PFL as a lightweight, a division the UFC does not have, and went 16-1 with the rival promotion, with her only loss a stunner against Larissa Pacheco, whom she had already beat twice.
Meanwhile, Nunes dominated both the bantamweight and featherweight divisions in the UFC before retiring at age 35 in 2023. The possibility of a return lingered, though, and became quite tangible once Harrison joined the UFC last year.
Despite competing two weight classes down from her preferred home, Harrison looked unstoppable in her first two fights against Holly Holm and Ketlen Vieira, setting up a title fight she wasted little time in winning.
When Harrison and Nunes step into the Octagon, it won't be just a belt on the line. It could end up being the fight that decides the greatest female fighter in MMA history.
"This is the greatest fighter of all time," Harrison said. "For a long time, I've said I want what she has. I have a belt, she has a legacy. Let's put it on the table"
Get full UFC 316 results, highlights and play-by-play of the pay-per-view main card here.
