Kayla Harrison has hit the jackpot. The 2-time Olympic champion added extra gold to her trophy case, successful the UFC ladies’s bantamweight championship and establishing a invaluable struggle with soon-to-be Corridor of Famer Amanda Nunes.
Regardless of being the challenger, Harrison entered UFC 316 as the most important betting favourite on the cardboard. The Olympic judoka lived as much as her fame, dominating two-time UFC champion Julianna Pena from bell to bell. In Spherical 2, Harrison latched onto a kimura, wrenching Pena’s arm and shoulder again. There have been solely seconds left within the spherical, however Pena frantically tapped.
“That is for anybody who’s ever felt hopeless, who’s wished to give up or surrender,” Harrison stated throughout her post-fight interview, referring to her tough weight minimize. “I will inform you what, on Thursday, I wished to give up and quit.
“You gotta go to a nasty place.”
Heading into UFC 316, there was a prize at stake arguably extra invaluable than the UFC ladies’s bantamweight championship: a struggle with Nunes. The previous two-division champion, who will enter the UFC Hall of Fame later this month, confirmed she was ending her retirement this week to struggle the winner of Saturday’s co-main occasion.
Harrison beckoned Nunes, who was seated cageside, to affix her within the Octagon.
“We knew this was going to occur,” Nunes advised her former American High Staff coaching associate.
“That is the best fighter of all time,” Harrison stated. “For a very long time I’ve stated, I need what she needs. She has the legacy, I’ve the belt. Let’s put them on the desk.”