Kayla Harrison made Julianna Pena look as if she had been, but her battle before the battle was nothing.
The two-time Olympic gold medalist claimed her first UFC championship on Saturday night, beating “Venezuela Vixen” via Kimura in the waning seconds of the second round.
Harrison looked nothing but spectacular in his third octagonal appearance, but fans of the battle were worried if he could go 25 minutes after becoming particularly weak during pre-war measurements.
Of course, Harrison didn’t take 10 minutes to beat Pena, but she was open about her struggles to fulfill the 135 pound limit in an interview after the UFC 316 war.
“There are moments in your life that you choose. You say, ‘I’ll stop,’ or dig your heels,” Harrison said. “Thursday night was definitely one of those moments for me. I wanted to be anywhere on the planet than that sauna. It sucked my ass. It’s not pretty, but when your true personality came out. I was honed with fire.
“The last two pounds – it was God. That was the team he put around me. All my coaches kept me positive. I think my team always thinks I’m different, but I mean they’re watching, so I’m working really hard.
At the Olympics, Harrison competed in the 172-pound weight class before moving on to mixed martial arts. For the PFL, she was a two-time Featherweight champion. This stopped being present in the UFC after Amanda Nunes retired from sports in 2023.