Although her sophomore appearance in the UFC didn’t produce an abundance of highlights for her all-time reel, coach Mike Brown is confident Kayla Harrison is on the cusp of her latest piece of gold.
The two-time Olympic gold medalist in judo has spent the bulk of her career mostly dominating the PFL, where she won two $1 million 155-pound titles. She moved to the UFC earlier this year and debuted with a second-round finish of former women’s bantamweight champ Holly Holm.
Not only did Harrison (18-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) take out a former titleholder right out of the gate, but she made a successful debut at 135 pounds, as well – a full 20 pounds down from where she spent most of her time in the PFL. At UFC 307, she faced some second-round adversity against Ketlen Vieira (14-4 MMA, 8-4 UFC), but ultimately won a unanimous decision.
Former WEC champ Brown, who now is her head coach at American Top Team, thinks Harrison’s arrival in the UFC will bring some luster back to the division that had Ronda Rousey as its founding champion before Holm, Miesha Tate, Amanda Nunes, Julianna Peña and Raquel Pennington.
“Kayla really is on another level than these other girls, and I think that she’s bringing back excitement to that division,” Brown told MMA Junkie. “I think that division really needs it. The level of talent is not super deep there.
“She is an outlier. She’s charismatic and she is, I think, head and shoulders above the rest of the females and I think with the way she talks and the way she looks and what she’s capable of, she brings a lot of excitement. I think (the division) needs it, and I think she’s going to do big things.”
Harrison seemed to position herself as the next challenger for the title just a few fights before then-former champ Peña (13-5 MMA, 8-3 UFC) beat Pennington (16-10 MMA, 13-6 UFC) by split decision to win back the belt at UFC 307 earlier this month.
But after Peña’s win, she didn’t acknowledge Harrison’s win over Vieira – and instead said she hopes Nunes comes out of retirement to fight in a trilogy matchup. Peña upset Nunes to win the title, but lost it to her in a rematch. Nunes then retired and vacated both the women’s bantamweight and featherweight belts.
Brown, like Harrison, thought Peña ignoring her will only go so far.
“We just laughed. We almost expected it,” Brown said. “I don’t think really the (bantamweight) girls want any piece of Kayla. I think she’s making her claim, and I think she’s the future of the division. It’s going to happen eventually. You can’t run from it forever. You might as well face the music.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 307.
