Kayla Harrison emphatically asserted that she would become UFC women’s bantamweight champion — and she did just that in the co-main event of UFC 316, becoming the champion by scoring a second-round submission of Julianna Pena.
Harrison came out on the front foot, appearing to control the fight and land the stronger shots in the opening minutes. Harrison managed to lock up Pena and pin her against the fence in less than two minutes before managing to take the defending champion down. Harrison worked her way into half guard, while Pena looked to control posture. Pena looked to land punches from up top, but the challenger’s pressure seemed to be too much.
Pena landed an up-kick that seemed to do damage, but with Harrison’s knee down, the strike was illegal, and the referee deducted a point from Pena.
Pena appeared to land respectable shots early in the second round, but she was letting Harrison control the pacing of the fight and letting her come forward. Harrison locked Pena up against the fence again. Pena appeared to do well defending Harrison’s takedown efforts but Harrison managed to get her down halfway through the round. Despite Pena’s efforts to control Harrison’s arms, and to get her legs around Harrison, Harrison managed to bully her to the mat and threatened a neck crank, then an arm-triangle.
With less than 10 seconds left in the second round, Harrison managed to twist Pena’s arm into a kimura from side control, scoring the tap out and becoming the new champion.
Kayla Harrison Becomes UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion By Submitting Julianna Pena
Harrison, a two-time Olympic gold medal judoka and two-time PFL champion, jumped to the UFC from the PFL last year. Her title shot came after a finish of former champion Holly Holm at UFC 300 and a dominant decision over Ketlen Vieira at UFC 307.
This was Pena’s first defense since winning the title at UFC 307 with a controversial decision over Raquel Pennington. Her first reign started at UFC 269 with a major upset over Amanda Nunes. She’d lose the title back to Nunes at UFC 277.
