Elite Judoka Kayla Harrison is returning to professional MMA competition for the first time in almost a year at PFL 10 on November 24th, 2023 as she faces off against Julia Budd. Harrison already reached the highest level of Judo competition during her career, winning a pair of gold medals at the Olympics before she made the transition to MMA. She signed a contract with PFL and won 3 fights in her first few months as a competitor to establish herself as one of the top female MMA prospects around.
She won her first PFL women’s lightweight tournament in 2019 and followed that up with another tournament win in 2021. All signs pointed to her dominating the sport in her division for years to come, and she continued her impressive form throughout 2022. She ran through everyone who stood in her way and her undefeated record improved to 15-0 as she advanced into the final for the third time. She was on track to win the tournament for the third time as her opponent in the final was Larissa Pacheco, who she’d already beaten twice in the past.
Pacheco shocked the world when she defeated Harrison by unanimous decision and took home the title herself. That was the last time that Harrison was seen competing in MMA, although she has been open about the frustration of missing out on the 2023 season at PFL. Now it seems as though Kayla Harrison has been preparing for something different, as her comeback fight against Julia Budd at PFL 10 is actually at featherweight instead. She has only competed in that division once before, but she won that fight and almost certainly will be the favorite against Budd too.
PFL announced the news that Kayla Harrison would be facing Julia Budd in a superfight at PFL 10 in a recent post to their official Instagram account:
