Kayla Harrison, regarded as one of the best fighters to ever grace women’s MMA, has garnered accolades in the combat world, including multiple medals and championships in Judo, notably two Olympic gold medals, which helped her etch her name in the record books. After achieving significant success in Judo, she transitioned to MMA.
Harrison joined the Professional Fighters League (PFL) and captured gold in that organization as well. Her undeniable status led to increased hype about her joining the UFC. For a while, she was even being matched up to fight Amanda Nunes before negotiations fell through. However, she is finally set to make her UFC debut in the landmark 300th event of the company on April 13th.
What did Arman Tsarukyan do to upset Kayla Harrison?
Prior to her UFC debut, Harrison was recently part of a UFC 300 Q/A along with fellow fighters on the card, Alex Pereira, and Arman Tsarukyan. However, the program faced an unexpected turn when a Russian journalist decided to throw an inappropriate question at Tsarukyan.
The journalist asked the fighter in their native language whether he would be interested to sleep with Harrison, who was sitting right beside him. After looking out for any translators, Arman replied with a “yes” in Russian.
At first, both Tsarukyan and the reporter had a great laugh following the question thinking nobody, especially Harrison would figure out the conversation they just had. But the whole segment was bound to be exposed with the massive blow-up of the clip throughout the internet.
After getting to know the meaning behind their interaction, Harrison addressed the situation on the Ariel Helwani show, and stated that it made her embarrassed and upset. But being an amazing sport as Harrison is, she confirmed having spoke with Tsarukyan and resolving the issue.
When will Kayla Harrison make her UFC debut?
After years of speculation, Harrison is finally set to make her UFC debut and her opponent is none other than another legend in the game, Holly Holm. Holm will welcome the Olympic medalist into her long-awaited destination to either make or break her dreams. While breaking down her decision to join the UFC on Ariel Helwani’s show, she stated that it made her “scared” to take the jump.
She commented, “I’m excited. I feel like I’m ready for a new challenge. I’m ready for a new chapter. I don’t have a ton of years left fighting. I think that I’m a two-time Olympic champion, I’m a two-time PFL champion, I have plenty of money in the bank. When I started MMA, I wanted to be UFC champion. That’s not a knock on the PFL — it didn’t even exist then — but when I started in MMA, the goal was to be UFC champion. Along the way the goal might have changed a little bit, and I might have felt like it wasn’t as necessary, but I want to be UFC champion.”
Fighting her entire career at 155lbs, Harrison will join the UFC under the 135lbs class, which she described as “a big drop”.
Nevertheless, it is finally time for Harrison to shine bright under the brightest lights of them all and she has a scope to become a superstar if she is able to eventually get her hands on UFC gold.
