Both Kayla Harrison and PFL founder, Donn Davis, have had some choice words for Dana White after the UFC president made his thoughts on Harrison’s career known. His recent comments are a far cry from the last time he was asked about two-time Olympic Judo champion and the potential of bringing her to the UFC, where he seemed enthusiastic about the idea. Now, he has changed his tune and is advising her to stay put in a recent interview with TSN’s Aaron Bronsteter:
“If I was her, I’d stay right where she is and keep picking off the people over there. I would stay there and keep fighting the type of women she’s fighting there before I would come here and fight an Amanda Nunes. That’s for damn sure.”
Of course, Harrison will certainly continue competing in PFL for at least her next fight. She’s scheduled to face Taylor Guardado on October 27th for the Lightweight championship and a million-dollar prize, simultaneously putting an end to the promotion’s 2021 season. When Kayla Harrison was asked how she felt about Dana White and the comments he’d made, she seemed to understand both exactly what kind of promoter he is, and that she had more important things to worry about right now:
“Thanks for the advice, Uncle Dana, I appreciate you. My job is going to focus on Oct. 27. I really don’t care what other people have to say about me or my career, my choices, or my options. I’m going to do what’s best for me, and that’s it. That’s what he does. That’s his job. I’m gonna talk about how I’m the greatest of all time, and he’s gonna talk about, ‘Well, calm down. No, you’re not.’ This is a game. This is a business. The difference is I really am gonna be the greatest of all time. He’s gonna see.”
PFL founder Donn Davis also spoke about the comments that Dana White made on Kayla Harrison in a recent interview with BJPenn.com. He seemed just as comfortable brushing off disparaging comments about his promotion as Harrison was and even used the moment as an opportunity to explain exactly why he believes that the seasonal structure of the PFL is superior to the singular fight-night structure of most other MMA promotions:
“Look, as the founder of the league, this is a fighter-first league. I’m an entrepreneur, I see them as entrepreneurs. How far can they (the fighters) go – it’s our job to help them. How do we encourage fighters, how do we promote fighters, how do we help fighters – that’s what the PFL is all about. So we want the fighters who want to bet on themselves. Because the PFL’s a meritocracy. Win and advance, lose and go home. It’s just like the NBA or the NFL, no B.S., no politics, no social media. What happens inside the cage determines the champion. The best fighter wins – that’s what sport is.”
“I respect UFC. They blazed the way, but most of those fights are undercard fights. They don’t matter. It’s like the football preseason. I watch every minute of the NFL, I don’t watch any preseason. I’ll watch a title fight in the UFC, but the undercards don’t matter. With the PFL, I don’t care if it’s fight one or fight seven, you lose, you’re done for the year, it is March Madness meets MMA. So every fight matters, and how do you put the fighter first, we’re just doing something different here.”
