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Kayla Harrison's contract with the PFL was so good that she had to re-sign with them, according to Ariel Helwani.
After the expiration of her contract with the promotion last year, Harrison decided to test free agency. There was talk of the 31-year-old possibly joining the UFC. A fight with Cris Cyborg in Bellator was also being considered. However, in the end, 'Doug' decided to stick with her last organization and renewed her contract.
Helwani recently commented on the situation on his show The MMA Hour. Weighing in on the Olympic gold medalist's decision to stay put with the PFL, Helwani said that she was offered a contract by Bellator to fight Cyborg. However, the PFL matched the contract and, thus, Harrison decided to stay with them.
Helwani concluded by saying that the 31-year-old is making more money in the PFL than most female athletes in the sport:
"Everything she [Kayla Harrison] said was true. There was a deal on the table to fight in Hawaii at the end of April against Cris Cyborg. Obviously, they had to get Cyborg on board as well but that was the plan for her to debut [in Bellator] then and that would have been gigantic. Shouldn't she be allowed to go? She's getting paid very well, better than 99.9% of the female fighters out there."
You can watch Helwani talk about Harrison below:
Cris Cyborg comments on Kayla Harrison's decision to try free agency
According to former UFC champion Cris Cyborg, Kayla Harrison's decision to be a free agent was a publicity move. The Brazilian feels that 'Doug' did it just to invite potentially better offers from other organizations.
According to Cyborg, Harrison had no intention of parting ways with the PFL. She reiterated the same during her appearance on MMA Fighting's Portuguese-language podcast Trocação Franca:
"I wasn’t surprised. I knew she would stay at PFL. I believe it was just [marketing], but knew she would sign with them." [Translated from Portuguese to English by MMAFighting.com]
You can listen to the full episode of the podcast below:
Harrison has been running through her competition in MMA and is currently 12-0. However, to understand her ceiling, the 31-year-old will probably have to test herself against big names like Cris Cyborg, Julianna Pena and Amanda Nunes.
