Though her sophomore look within the UFC didn’t produce an abundance of highlights for her all-time reel, coach Mike Brown is assured Kayla Harrison is on the cusp of her newest piece of gold.
The 2-time Olympic gold medalist in judo has spent the majority of her profession principally dominating the PFL, the place she gained two $1 million 155-pound titles. She moved to the UFC earlier this yr and debuted with a second-round end of former girls’s bantamweight champ Holly Holm.
Not solely did Harrison (18-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) take out a former titleholder proper out of the gate, however she made a profitable debut at 135 kilos, as nicely – a full 20 kilos down from the place she spent most of her time within the PFL. At UFC 307, she confronted some second-round adversity in opposition to Ketlen Vieira (14-4 MMA, 8-4 UFC), however in the end gained a unanimous determination.
Former WEC champ Brown, who now could be her head coach at American Prime Staff, thinks Harrison’s arrival within the UFC will convey some luster again to the division that had Ronda Rousey as its founding champion earlier than Holm, Miesha Tate, Amanda Nunes, Julianna Peña and Raquel Pennington.
“Kayla actually is on one other degree than these different women, and I believe that she’s bringing again pleasure to that division,” Brown instructed MMA Junkie. “I believe that division actually wants it. The extent of expertise shouldn’t be tremendous deep there.
“She is an outlier. She’s charismatic and he or she is, I believe, head and shoulders above the remainder of the females and I believe with the way in which she talks and the way in which she seems and what she’s able to, she brings a whole lot of pleasure. I believe (the division) wants it, and I believe she’s going to do massive issues.”
Harrison appeared to place herself as the following challenger for the title just some fights earlier than then-former champ Peña (13-5 MMA, 8-3 UFC) beat Pennington (16-10 MMA, 13-6 UFC) by break up determination to win again the belt at UFC 307 earlier this month.
However after Peña’s win, she didn’t acknowledge Harrison’s win over Vieira – and as an alternative mentioned she hopes Nunes comes out of retirement to battle in a trilogy matchup. Peña upset Nunes to win the title, however misplaced it to her in a rematch. Nunes then retired and vacated each the ladies’s bantamweight and featherweight belts.
Brown, like Harrison, thought Peña ignoring her will solely go to date.
“We simply laughed. We nearly anticipated it,” Brown mentioned. “I don’t suppose actually the (bantamweight) women need any piece of Kayla. I believe she’s making her declare, and I believe she’s the way forward for the division. It’s going to occur ultimately. You’ll be able to’t run from it perpetually. You may as nicely face the music.”
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