Dana White has just announced that Kayla Harrison has signed a contract with the UFC and will now be making her promotional debut against Holly Holm at UFC 300 on April 13th, 2024. The fight will be taking place in the bantamweight division, another surprise in the saga as Harrison has historically competed in higher weight classes. Throughout the 17 fights of her professional MMA career, 15 of them have been contested at lightweight and 1 was at a catchweight of 150lbs, along with a single featherweight fight at Invicta FC 43 in 2020. This has actually been the biggest point of contention when fans have discussed the idea of Harrison moving to the UFC, as the promotion does not have a functional division above bantamweight.
Harrison has previously discussed the idea of making the cut to bantamweight, although it’s not something she’s done for a professional fight before. A large weight-cut is something that requires a huge amount of preparation and dedication for any fighter, but Harrison has won two gold medals in the Olympics in Judo and is a lifelong martial artist. She knows better than most how to overcome adversity and that’s part of the reason why she was able to embark on such a successful professional MMA career. She has fought primarily for the PFL and has won their lightweight championship twice, racking up a 17-1 professional record by the time she left them.
She was one of the biggest free agents in recent years and although Dana White initially started out quite reserved about the idea of signing her, it was clear that she would be a huge boost to the UFC. Now she’s signed a contract with the promotion, they’ve decided to put her front and center for their biggest event in recent memory. She’s not getting an easy opponent in her UFC debut either, as Kayla Harrison will be facing former bantamweight champion Holly Holm at UFC 300.
Dana White announced the news that Kayla Harrison would make her UFC debut against Holly Holm at UFC 300 in a recent post to his official Instagram account: