Kayla Harrison set to fight Juliana Pena at UFC 316 for the belt

Kayla Harrison might be in the processes of completing the biggest ‘duck’ in the history of Women’s Mixed Martial Arts.  A 2x Olympic Gold Medalist Kayla immediately signed a professional MMA career with the PFL MMA organization at a time when Cris Cyborg was already signed with Bellator MMA and their current Champion.  Harrison would become a “free agent” with “matching rights” in her contract which eventually led to an agreement for her to hopefully fight Cris Cyborg in Hawaii.

While the term sheet was ‘matched’ by the PFL, Kayla was able to get words removed that would allow her to have free control and complete discretion during her next attempt at free agency.  Following PFL’s acquisition of Bellator MMA last November, Cyborg agreed to a 1st quarter megafight against Kayla Harrison on the PFL X Bellator MMA Champions card that was held in Riyadh Saudi Arabia.

Kayla who had previously negotiated her terms for a fight with Cris Cyborg and already had them when she re-signed with PFL declined a fight against Cyborg for February stating that her contract had officially ended.  While there was some discussion about the termination date of the agreement, ultimately Kayla Harrison signed with the UFC and dropped to 135lbs for a fight against the 42 year old Holly Holm at UFC 300.

Judo Kayla who had advocated for not cutting weight, went out of her way to skip a matchup against Cris Cyborg.  Kayla will now face Juliana Pena for the UFC Bantamweight belt who won a close and controversial decision over Raquel Pennington.  Kayla who is 2-0 in the UFC had a win over Aspen Ladd after suffering a decision loss in the upset of the year to Larissa Pacheco.  Cyborg would go on to fight Pacheco after Kayla signed with the UFC showcasing a dominant performance against the 29 year old 2x PFL Champion in Larissa Pacheco.

UFC 316 is set to take place June 7th in Newark New Jersey at the Prudential Center.