Kayla Harrison has been considered the greatest female fighter outside of the UFC for years, and she proved Saturday night at UFC 300 that she may now be the most feared female fighter in the UFC.
Harrison defeated former bantamweight champion Holly Holm in her UFC debut, submitting Holm with a rear naked choke. in the second round.
The choke was Harrison’s seventh career victory. Prior to the UFC, Harrison compiled a 16-1 record in the Professional Fighter’s League, winning PFL women’s lightweight tournaments in 2019, 2021 and 2022.
In the PFL, Harrison fought exclusively at lightweight (155 pounds), but the heaviest women’s division in the UFC is bantamweight (135 pounds). Any questions about how the 5-foot-8 Harrison would handle the weight cut were answered Saturday, as Harrison looked dominant in her bantamweight debut.
She had strong exchanges with Holm, a former world champion boxer, and executed several throws to bring Holm to the ground. In the first round, this led to several minutes of intense ground and pound, with Holm receiving heavy punches and elbows as she was pressed against the fence.
In the first minute of the second round, Harrison hit Holm with a headbutt, then fired a double leg takedown, almost burying himself in a submission before tripping Holm for another takedown. Less than a minute later, Harrison backed Holm up and landed in a rear naked choke for the win.
Prior to her first MMA fight in 2018, Harrison built a career as one of the most dominant judokas of all time. She won Olympic gold medals in judo in 2012 and 2016, was a three-time IJF Grand Slam tournament champion and was elected to the US Judo Federation Hall of Fame.
After her 2016 Olympic gold medal, Harrison was promoted to rokudan (sixth degree black belt), making her the youngest person in the United States to ever achieve this rank.
Harrison found his way into MMA by becoming a training partner of Ronda Rousey, who was a fellow champion judoka. Rousey’s legendary UFC reign was forgotten by Holm in 2015.
This story will be updated with more results throughout the event.
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