Juliana Peña claims Kayla Harrison needs the Fame and says she ducked Cris Cyborg fight

Things are heating up between UFC Bantamweight champion Juliana Peña and top contender Kayla Harrison ahead of their UFC 316 Co Main event world championship which will take place in New Jersey on June 7th, 2025.  The two have been going back and forth starting with the press conference for UFC 307 back in October and Juliana Pena continues to remind fans that Kayla Harrison ducked perhaps the most lucrative fight offer in the history of women competing in mixed martial arts to join the UFC rather than compete against Cris Cyborg inside of the Professional Fighters League PFL Smart Cage.

Cris Cyborg who agreed to fight Kayla Harrison during the inaugural PFL MMA X Bellator MMA world Championships in Feb. of 2024 claims that it was Kayla Harrison who prevented the fight from happening after using her prior ‘right to match’ contract maxed out before leaving to join the UFC.  With all of her demands already on contract including name and salaries, the promoter asked for an addition 90 days to make the bout only to have Kayla threaten legal action to ensure she would not have to honor any existing agreement.

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Pena recently went on the Ariel Helwani show claiming that Kayla Harrison is seeking fame and has a need for recognition which is why she ducked a fight against Cris Cyborg which was rumored to be the highest paying female fight in the history of WMMA. “If you don’t (care about the fame), you would have taken the million dollars, and you would have fought Cris Cyborg if you were the best of the best But she didn’t wanna do that, she didn’t wanna prove herself against Cris and that’s why she came running to the UFC, and she’s gonna have to pay for it with her body of having to make this weight.”–

Cyborg is expected to return to the PFL MMA cage where she defeated Larissa Pacheco who was the last women to beat Kayla Harrison before she ‘ran’ to the UFC Bantamweight division. Before her return to the PFL MMA Smart Cage Cris Cyborg will take her skills inside the boxing ring at San Jose Fight Night III Where she will face Precious Harris McCray in a 6 round professional boxing fight to celebrate the anniversary of her 20th year in combat sports. Fans wanting to watch Cyborg X Harris-McCray can get tickets HERE. Precious Harris McCray is 4-1 as a professional with 3 KO’s and is currently ranked top 20 in the world for women’s boxing while Cyborg will look to remain undefeated with 4 wins and 3ko’s of her own.