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Kayla Harrison quells weight-cutting concerns ahead of UFC 300
Kayla Harrison understands why there are concerns over her weight cut ahead of her first UFC appearance. However, she does not have those same concerns.
A few days ago, Dana White announced that Harrison signed with the promotion, adding her to UFC 300 against Holly Holm. The UFC CEO also announced that Harrison would move to a new weight class: bantamweight. There were a lot of questions, especially since Harrison has fought at lightweight and featherweight (a one-off with Invicta FC three years ago) in her career, but she never attempted a move to bantamweight.
So what changed?
Harrison has already done test weight cuts
The UFC has no lightweight division, the featherweight division was scrapped, so Kayla Harrison chose to move to bantamweight. Though moving down two weight classes was a tough test, it is a test she has already completed.
After Dana White revealed she has had some test cuts to bantamweight, the two-time Olympic medalist confirmed that was the case.
“I wouldn’t have made the move if I didn’t think I was going to be able to do it,” said Harrison in an interview with Kevin Iole. “We did a test cut. Everything was measured, from my heart rate to my blood pressure to my blood sugar. We did a test recovery. We did a test simulated fight. Everything has been dialed in and everything has been tested.
“I’m really confident in my team and I’m really confident in myself,” continued Harrison. “I’m not saying it’s going to be easy, but the things in life that are worth having are usually not easy [to obtain].”
Holly Holm expects Harrison to make weight
While others are concerned with Kayla Harrison and her weight cut, Holly Holm has confidence in her upcoming opponent. During an appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, the former UFC champion said she would not fight Harrison if she missed weight, but she does not see that happening since she is a professional.
“I don’t really know what she walks around at, how much water she drops, I don’t know all those details,” said Holm. “But for me, it’s like if somebody was to tell me I’ve got to go to 125, I couldn’t make 125. So you think about that and that is a concern but I feel like she’s a professional, not just in MMA but obviously in professional sports in her judo and everything, so I give that confidence in her that she’s going to make weight.”
With a win against Harrison, Holm is setting her sights on another championship opportunity. Raquel Pennington recently won the then-vacant UFC bantamweight championship against Mayra Bueno Silva at UFC 297 in January. Holm has already fought — and defeated — ‘Rocky’ twice, so a third fight is ideal, especially now that her former foe has what she wants.
“I fought for the belt more than once and so a lot of people, they think about what the anticipation is, they want to see other people fight for the belt, but you’ve also got to put people in line that deserve to be there and there’s a reason that I have been up there, it’s because I stayed ranked in the top 5 for a really long time,” said Holm. “My goal is always to get to the belt. If I’m not fighting for the belt, I don’t want to be fighting at all. If I don’t have some kind of path to the belt, I really don’t want to do it.
“I’m not just fighting for a payday, I’m not just fighting for fun, it’s with a goal in mind, so that’s always it. It really stinks when you have a loss because it takes you a step away from it rather than a step closer, so I do feel like this is a fight that can be closer to the belt, so I’m going to make it work, make it happen.”
UFC 300 goes down on Sat., April 13, live from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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