Kayla Harrison is lastly getting her likelihood to compete for UFC gold.
The 2-time Olympic gold medallist in judo and former PFL champion is ready to problem UFC girls’s bantamweight champion Julianna Pena for the title later this 12 months at UFC 316.
UFC president Dana White made the announcement Tuesday night throughout an Instagram reside broadcast.
The occasion is scheduled to happen June 7 at the Prudential Middle in New Jersey and will probably be headlined by a males’s bantamweight title struggle between rivals Merab Dvalishvili and Sean O’Malley. Pena vs. Harrison will function the co-main occasion. Each bouts are set for 5 rounds.
Pena is a two-time champion who’s coming off a controversial cut up determination title win over Raquel Pennington at UFC 307 this previous October to start her second reign as 135-pound champ.
The 35-year-old initially grew to become champion when she upset Amanda Nunes by submission at UFC 269 in 2021. Pena misplaced the title to Nunes at UFC 277 within the speedy rematch the next 12 months then Nunes later vacated the belt when she introduced her retirement in June of 2023.
Harrison is 2-0 since debuting within the UFC one 12 months in the past, posting a submission win over former champion Holly Holm and a dominant determination victory over Ketlen Viera in her most up-to-date outing at UFC 307.
The 34-year-old star is 18-1 in skilled blended martial arts since taking on the game along with her lone loss coming to Larissa Pacheco over whom she holds two prior wins.
Harrison received her Olympic judo medals within the 172-pound class and beforehand competed primarily within the light-weight division at 155 kilos within the PFL however determined to make the drastic weight lower and way of life change so as to reside out her UFC goals and earn a title on this planet’s high MMA promotion.
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