(Content warning: This article contains references to sexual assault.)
Kayla Harrison is carrying on the tradition of dominant judokas ruling over the UFC women’s bantamweight division.
When the UFC first introduced women to the Octagon in 2013, it was with the ever-dominant Olympic bronze medalist turned Strikeforce champion, Ronda Rousey. The UFC Hall of Famer has been retired from MMA since early 2017 and showed no interest in a return until recently, when she began posting training footage online. A still-unconfirmed report from BoxingScene surfaced Monday linking Rousey to a potential boxing match against the pound-for-pound great Katie Taylor, while other speculative pairings for Rousey in recent months have included a blockbuster match against a fellow pioneer, Gina Carano.
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Harrison, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, currently rules over the division once under Rousey’s siege. When catching wind of the talk Monday on “The Ariel Helwani Show,” Harrison pondered the thought of a potential fight.
“That’d be some free money,” Harrison told Uncrowned, adding that her and Rousey aren’t friends.
“Who is she going to fight? She’s not going to fight Katie Taylor in boxing. If you said MMA, I’d say OK.”
The history between Harrison and Rousey runs deep into their judo days. Both trained at Jimmy Pedro’s Judo Center in Massachusetts during their early rises in the sport, and the duo of future UFC champions even lived together for a spell before the 2008 Olympics.
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For Harrison, her departure from her original training home in Ohio came at a pivotal time in her life, as she had been sexually assaulted by her former coach, Daniel Doyle, from the ages of 13 to 16. Doyle was ultimately convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2011 after pleading guilty to sexual abuse of his former student from 2003 to 2007.
While Harrison wasn’t on the 2008 Olympic team, Rousey was, winning her bronze medal. Harrison won gold in the following two Olympic Games, in 2012 and 2016.
According to Harrison, she and Rousey had two official judo matches in tournaments they competed in along their paths to the Olympics. The reigning UFC champ recalled losing both matches and continued to reflect on the full-circle nature of what an MMA fight would be like between them all these years later.
“Sometimes I can’t even write [it]. It’s too poetic,” Harrison said. “When people talk about us fighting, all the Ronda simps are like, ‘She already beat her twice in judo,’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, well, I was 13 and being molested.’
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“[She was] 18 or 19. It’s fair. We were in the same weight class. She beat me. I’m woman enough to admit when I get beat. She beat me.”
While a potential Harrison vs. Rousey matchup realistically remains a long shot, Harrison aims to soon do what Rousey failed to in the former champ’s own final fight: Defeat Amanda Nunes.
At UFC 207 in December 2017, Nunes knocked out Rousey in 48 seconds, essentially ending Rousey’s MMA career. The win marked the start of Nunes’ historic championship run, which saw her win nine of her next 10 title tilts before retiring in June 2023.
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Now set to end that retirement, the all-time great Nunes will challenge for Harrison’s title at UFC 324 on Jan. 24 in Las Vegas. The highly anticipated clash won’t just mark the start of Harrison’s reign with her first defense, it’ll also launch the new era of the UFC’s broadcast future with Paramount and CBS. After striking a $7.7 billion deal, Paramount and CBS will be the home of the UFC for the next seven years.
