As the company seeks fresh opponents for double champion Amanda Nunes, UFC president Dana White is open to the possibility of Kayla Harrison entering the mix.
Recently, the former 2X Olympic gold medalist has been practicing her new craft under the PFL organization. In 2019, the unbeaten athlete pulled off a couple of massive wins in PFL and won the million-dollar prize. The Judo specialist is currently on a nine-fight win streak, and her grappling prowess overwhelms most foes that are locked in the cage with her. After her brilliant rematch win against Larissa Pacheco (who Kayla Harrison defeated for the one-million-dollar prize in 2019) just less than a week ago, Harrison is the surefire favorite to win the PFL tournament again.
Following the big performance, UFC president Dana White caught up with TSN in an interview where he discussed the future of the women’s featherweight division.
“We’re still goofing around with that division, trying to see what the GOAT wants to do, Amanda Nunes. That’s what we’re doing.”
Despite training with Amanda Nunes from time to time, Kayla Harrison is eager to become the new women’s GOAT of MMA and understands to do that, almost surely involves a contract with the UFC. With Harrison’s PFL contract set to expire at the end of this season, it seems the former Olympian is on the radar of the UFC boss.
Dana White On Kayla Harrison’s UFC Readiness: “We’ll Find Out”
“I don’t know if she’s ready (Harrison). When she feels like she’s ready…I’m always looking for the best possible people to come in and fight. Dana White said to Aaron Bronsteter with TSN. If you don’t think that we’ve offered for her to come over…I just don’t know if her people think she’s ready yet. It’s a whole other level when you get here.”
With so many solid prospects for Kayla Harrison to fight, if she makes the promotional leap, there are plenty of options. White acknowledges that when she is ready, that there is a whole new level of competition awaiting her outside of the PFL.
“Amanda, Germain, Holly, Aspen Ladd, I mean, you got Julianna Peña, the list goes on and on. So it’s a lot tougher when you come over here.
“So I don’t know if they think she’s ready or not yet, but we’ll find out.”
While it seems Kayla Harrison is the face of the PFL brand right now, perhaps in time that could change if she continues to dominate competition the way she has.
Do you believe Kayla Harrison is ready for competition within the UFC?
