Kayla Harrison to UFC: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of her move

The MMA world was stunned last night when it was announced by Dana White that the UFC had signed former PFL lightweight champion Kayla Harrison to a contract.

Harrison, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in judo, is now set to face off against former bantamweight titleholder Holly Holm at UFC 300 on April 13.

Given that PFL CEO Donn Davis recently claimed that he expected Harrison to stay with his promotion for at least one more fight, the news came as a shock to most observers.

But will Harrison’s move to the biggest MMA promotion in the world work out, or will it turn out to backfire on all parties?

There are a number of perspectives worth looking at here, so here is the good, the bad, and the ugly of Kayla Harrison’s move to the UFC.

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Kayla Harrison to UFC: The Good

If you rewind to just over a decade ago, when the UFC was just on its way to becoming the dominant promotion in MMA, big signings being announced by Dana White were pretty commonplace.

When it was announced that Japanese stars like Takanori Gomi and Tatsuya Kawajiri were coming to the octagon, or that Eddie Alvarez and Hector Lombard had jumped ship from Bellator, it felt like an exciting time.

Now, though, with the majority of competing promotions lagging miles behind the UFC juggernaut, White announcing the signing of big names has become much rarer. That’s why everyone was so excited when the signing of Michael ‘Venom’ Page was recently announced.

Page, though, is arguably past his prime at this point. Kayla Harrison, on the other hand, is very much in her's. There’s a debate, in fact, that Harrison is probably the biggest signing that the UFC has made since Ben Askren in 2019.

More importantly, where the likes of Alvarez and Askren entered into some of the UFC’s most loaded divisions, Harrison will hopefully breathe new life into one of the promotion’s weakest.

The women’s bantamweight division was once the glamour division of female MMA, home to stars like Ronda Rousey, Miesha Tate, Amanda Nunes, Cat Zingano, Holly Holm, and more.

Now, though, those fighters are either gone or are far past their prime. Raquel Pennington now holds the bantamweight title, but despite her talents, it’s still arguable that in any other weight class, she’d be a journeywoman.

Therefore, if Kayla Harrison can make an immediate impact in her octagon debut by beating Holm, the UFC could easily push her right into a title shot.

Sure, even if she were to win, there wouldn’t be that many appealing challengers for her, but unlike Pennington – who has been around for a decade and who has fought almost everyone at 135 pounds – she’d provide fresh bouts at the top.

To add to this, of course, while the UFC doesn’t always promote dominant champions in thin weight divisions all that well, Harrison would seem to have the charisma needed to become a decent drawing card for them if she were to reach the top.

Of course, the signing of Harrison isn’t just about adding talent to a thin weight division. It’s also a major coup of sorts when it comes to the UFC getting one over on the promotion that is now its biggest rival.

Last year saw the PFL not only acquire another of the UFC’s rival promotions, Bellator MMA, but also sign away the UFC’s heavyweight champion, Francis Ngannou.

Ngannou’s move to the PFL made him the first reigning UFC champion to depart for another promotion since B.J. Penn in 2004, and it acted as a warning shot for Dana White and company.

Now, though, the signing of Harrison – the biggest female star on the PFL/Bellator roster by far – should act as a return shot from the UFC.

It’s a sign that despite the PFL’s best attempts to muscle in on the territory, the UFC is still the dominant player in MMA. Even if Kayla Harrison doesn’t succeed in the octagon, this alone makes her signing an important one.

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Kayla Harrison to UFC: The Bad

While the UFC’s signing of Kayla Harrison has already proven to be big news in the MMA world, there’s no guarantee that she’ll succeed in the octagon. In turn, assuming she’s on a hefty contract, there’s no guarantee that the move will make financial sense for the promotion.

Countless numbers of champions and stars from rival promotions have made their way to the UFC over the years, and to say that they’ve seen mixed results would be an understatement.

The likes of Eddie Alvarez, Shogun Rua, and Daniel Cormier went on to huge success, all claiming gold in the octagon and becoming recognized as the best fighter in the world at their weight.

Other big signings like Alistair Overeem, Dan Henderson, and Gilbert Melendez also had plenty of success without winning titles.

However, for every Cormier, there’s been a Mirko Cro Cop, Ben Askren, or Hector Lombard – champions in rival promotions who flopped badly in the octagon.

It’s probably fair to suggest that Harrison has a better chance of succeeding than some of those fighters who didn’t, purely because she’ll be competing in an extremely thin division, women’s bantamweight.

However, just because the division is short on talent doesn’t mean that the UFC fighters there are awful.

Champion Raquel Pennington isn’t the most naturally gifted fighter, but she’s tough, experienced, and is difficult to beat. The likes of Julianna Pena, Irene Aldana, and Ketlen Vieira are all also dangerous in their own right.

Holly Holm, meanwhile, who will face Harrison in her debut, is not only a former titleholder, but she’s also known for turning back hot prospects. ‘The Preacher’s Daughter’ famously ruined the octagon debut of Invicta champion Megan Anderson, for instance.

Despite her talents and high profile, it may also be fair to question exactly how good Kayla Harrison is, too.

She did defeat former UFC bantamweight contender Aspen Ladd in her last fight, but Ladd – who lost to Pennington, Norma Dumont, and Germaine de Randamie during her UFC career – is probably among her best-ever opponents

Prior to that, Harrison suffered a loss to Larissa Pacheco over five rounds, and that defeat could act as somewhat of a red flag.

Sure, the Olympic gold medalist had previously beaten the Brazilian twice, but in November 2022, she appeared to gas out and allowed Pacheco to take over and edge a decision.

Given that Pacheco washed out of the UFC after two losses – one to natural strawweight Jessica Andrade – in 2014, it begs the question of Harrison’s true level.

With this considered, it seems equally likely that Kayla Harrison will end up flopping in the octagon as she is likely to succeed.

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Kayla Harrison to UFC: The Ugly

Despite the furore around Kayla Harrison joining the UFC, one big part of Dana White’s announcement that seems to be flying under the radar is the fact that her bout with Holly Holm will take place at 135 pounds.

This is noteworthy for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it suggests that the UFC has no intentions to reinstate its women’s featherweight division, which Dana White suggested would be put on ice when Amanda Nunes retired last summer.

Secondly, and more importantly, it’ll mark the first time that Harrison has ever fought at this weight since the beginning of her MMA career back in 2018.

Usually, a fighter moving down in weight upon arriving in the UFC wouldn’t be a big deal. In this instance, though, it’s very different.

Not only has Kayla Harrison never fought at 135 pounds before, but she’s also only ever fought at 145 pounds once, beating Courtney King at the weight in November 2020.

Sure, her most recent fight, a win over Aspen Ladd, took place at a 150-pound catchweight, but for the most part, the Olympic medalist has fought primarily at 155 pounds.

To say that it’s rare for any fighter – male or female – to drop all the way from 155 to 135 pounds would be an understatement. In fact, it’s actually never happened in the UFC without the fighter stopping off at 145 pounds first.

So can Kayla Harrison even make 135 pounds safely? It’s definitely a fair question, particularly as the judoka did not seem at all keen on the idea when she was asked about it in 2022.

Harrison did suggest she’d consider the move if she were given a “lucrative offer,” which is obviously what the UFC have done here. However, she turns 34 years old in July, and whether her body will really cope with such a drastic weight drop is anyone’s guess.

If her weight cut goes wrong, then, not only could she be vulnerable against Holm, but her overall health could be affected, too.

Overall, then, it seems like a huge risk for Kayla Harrison to be making, even if the UFC have offered her a considerable amount of money to do so.