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Kayla Harrison scored yet another dominating victory in the semifinals of the women's lightweight tournament at PFL 8 with a TKO win over Genah Fabian, securing a final showdown with Taylor Guardado.
In the post-fight interview, Kayla Harrison was at fiery best, claiming that even UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, known for his elite takedown defense, would not be able to stop her.
Before pursuing mixed martial arts, Kayla Harrison was a judoka with a long list of merits to her name. She was the winner of the 2010 World Judo Championships, gold medalist at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, and champion of the 2011 and 2015 Pan American Games.
However, Kayla Harrison's journey to the top has not been one without struggles.
In 2011, before participating and winning her first Olympic gold medal, Kayla Harrison opened up about the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her former coach during her teenage years.
Kayla Harrison's Middletown, Ohio, judo instructor Daniel Doyle subjected her to sexual abuse and emotional manipulation from the time she was 13 to 16 years of age. She shared her story with USA Today in November 2011 after news of sexual abuse cases broke at universities like Penn State and Michigan State.
Daniel Doyle was a family friend of the Harrisons who baby-sat her and her siblings and was her coach since she was eight years old. He was convicted after Harrison told a fellow student at the academy of the abuse, who then told Harrison's mother Jeannie Yazell.
Daniel Doyle was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison in 2007 and Yazell took her daughter several miles away to Boston, Massachusetts, so that Kayla Harrison could continue her training under the tutelage of Jimmy and Big Jim Pedro.
Harrison has opened up about the matter quite a few times since then. In her own words, she wants her story to make the parents of kids and young adults aware of the signs of abuse in relationships that their children share with other adults, and also to help survivors of sexual abuse heal and recover from the trauma.
"When I was 16, having just moved to Boston to train with the Olympic coaches Jimmy Pedro and his father, I'd also just revealed to my mom that my first coach had sexually abused me. It was a tumultuous time. Everyday I thought about quitting the sport. I thought about running away, of being a Barista in New York where no-one would know me or look at me. I struggled with thoughts of suicide for years, during the abuse and after the abuse, but having a goal -- the dream of being an Olympic champion - and strong people around helped in my darkest hour," Kayla Harrison wrote in a CNN exclusive.
Kayla Harrison teamed up with leading psychiatrists from Harvard Medical School to pen her book 'Fighting Back: What An Olympic Champion's Story Can Teach Us about Recognizing and Preventing Child Sexual Abuse - and Helping Kids Recover'.
Kayla Harrison also founded a non-profit organization named 'Fearless Foundation', whose aim is, according to the official website, "to shine a light on the darkness that is child sexual abuse and to enrich the lives of survivors through education and sport, leading survivors to mastery and enabling them to flourish in all aspects of life."
Kayla Harrison on the Larry Nassar case of sexual abuse
In a 2018 interview with Journal-News, Kayla Harrison lauded the numerous victims of Larry Nassar, a former team doctor for the United States women's national gymnastics team and former professor at Michigan State University.
"I’m really proud and impressed by the survivors. They are like an army of survivors. I have said this a million times, but sexual abuse is awful, and I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy. This type of abuse affects you for the rest of your life. Those girls will live with scars forever. No amount of jail time can fix that," Kayla Harrison told the outlet.
Larry Nassar has been sentenced to multiple state and federal prison sentences, amounting to a de facto life imprisonment without parole.
