‘Uncrowned queen’ Kayla Harrison readies for UFC title run after tasting blood for first time

SALT LAKE CITY – Kayla Harrison continues to tick the containers of latest experiences in fight sports activities.

Slightly previous six years into her MMA profession, which has included only one loss, Harrison (18-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) obtained to see her personal blood for the primary time in a battle. Ketlen Vieira (14-4 MMA, 8-4 UFC) was the opponent from whom it was courtesy of.

That doesn’t imply Harrison was in hassle in opposition to the Brazilian of their ladies’s bantamweight battle to open the UFC 307 pay-per-view principal card at Delta Heart on Saturday. She mostly rolled to a unanimous decision, together with a pair of 30-27 scores. However the blood factor was new.

“That threw me, I’m not going to deceive you,” Harrison instructed MMA Junkie and different reporters on the post-fight information convention. “Nineteen fights in, I’ve by no means seen my very own blood within the cage. But it surely feels good.”

Harrison, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in judo, was in simply her second UFC battle. She got here to the promotion earlier this yr after spending her full MMA profession within the PFL, the place she received two $1 million season titles.

She stated she thinks being examined a bit by Vieira, whom she stated she thought may beat UFC 307 co-headliners Julianna Peña or Raquel Pennington, is likely to be the push she wants.

“I really feel like I’m going to develop from this tonight,” Harrison stated. “It’s a very good studying alternative for me, and tomorrow, we’re going to return to the home, rewatch the battle and dissect it. Tomorrow’s a brand new day – a number of room for enchancment for me.”

Within the co-feature, Peña (13-5 MMA, 8-3 UFC) upset Pennington (16-10 MMA, 13-6 UFC) to win the 135-pound title again about two years after she misplaced it to Amanda Nunes.

And although Harrison’s battle with Vieira was presumed to be a prime contenders bout, Peña stated at her post-fight press convention she hopes Nunes comes out of retirement to battle her a 3rd time. The 2 are 1-1 in opposition to one another.

Naturally, Harrison would possibly discover the timing for that to be odd. She desires a title shot in opposition to new two-time champ Peña, but when she has to maintain combating as an alternative, she’s going to.

“I feel that there are athletes, there are performers and there are fighters, and typically you’ve obtained to have the ability to dig deep. That’s what a fighter does,” Harrison stated. “… Fighters battle. While you’re the very best on the planet, you’re the very best on the planet. It doesn’t matter (who I battle). I’m the uncrowned queen. If I’ve the belt, if I don’t have the belt, I’m nonetheless the very best on the planet. I’d battle – I don’t care who it’s. Fill within the clean. I imply that after I say it. I don’t assume that there’s anyone on the planet that can beat me proper now.”

And that, she hopes is the X issue to turn out to be a champion within the UFC.

“I’ve performed some fairly superb issues in my profession. I would like this to be one other actually huge one,” Harrison stated. “I do know that I don’t have without end left as an athlete, so I need to take advantage of it whereas I can. I’ve obtained an extended listing sh*t I need to do within the UFC, so let’s get that title.”

For extra on the cardboard, go to MMA Junkie’s occasion hub for UFC 307.