Kayla Harrison is staying put.
The ladies’s MMA star has signed a multiyear contract to stay with Professional Fighters League, the group introduced Tuesday morning. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
“I’m happy the free agency is over and I have a fight on the horizon,” Harrison informed The Post by way of textual content. “I’m excited to continue to grow and challenge myself and be one of the highest paid athletes in the sport.”
Harrison (12-0, 10 finishes), whose contract with PFL expired after she gained her second consecutive ladies’s light-weight season on Oct. 27 with a second-round armbar submission victory over Taylor Guardado within the remaining, had been probably the most high-profile MMA free brokers in years. UFC president Dana White mentioned final yr he was “interested in the whole Kayla Harrison thing.” Bellator CEO Scott Coker spoke earlier this year about his need to deliver Harrison into the fold to compete within the promotion’s 145-pound weight class.
In the top, PFL was capable of retain its largest star, who has earned reward each for her leads to the cage and her potential to advertise a combat.
The 31-year-old former two-time Olympic gold medal-winning judoka has made identified her need to combat the very best ladies on this planet at 145 kilos and up. Of the three main North American MMA organizations, solely PFL has her most well-liked 155-pound division that requires minimal weight slicing and, thus, places much less pressure on the physique earlier than a combat. Current main featherweight champions Amanda Nunes (UFC) and Cris Cyborg (Bellator) are broadly thought of to be essentially the most completed ladies in MMA historical past.
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“I am also excited PFL is on board with helping me reach my goals of becoming the best and trying to acquire some of the biggest competition in the game to come and challenge me,” Harrison mentioned. “I look forward to us making those fights happen and until then I have another belt to win.”
Harrison confronted little resistance competing nearly completely for PFL since her 2018 MMA debut, two years after incomes her second judo gold medal on the Olympics in Brazil. She turned the primary feminine PFL champion and $1 million season winner in 2019 — the promotion’s second yr – and repeated the feat in 2021. Its third season was postponed a yr from 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
PFL additionally introduced the debut of what it calls a “Pay-Per-View Super Fight Division”
“I am also excited to announce the PFL is launching a new Pay-Per-View Super Fight Division where star MMA fighters will compete on a global stage against the best fighters in the sport,” PFL CEO Peter Murray mentioned in an announcement. “Two-time PFL Champion, Kayla Harrison, will be fighting in the PFL’s 2022 Season starting this April on ESPN networks and will also continue to build her legacy as a main event in the PFL’s PPV Super Fight Division.”
Harrison’s opponent for her April return to the cage will likely be introduced “in the coming weeks” together with the remainder of PFL’s common season schedule, the assertion mentioned. She will likely be joined this season by Julia Budd, the previous Bellator featherweight champion who debuted for PFL in October. The presence of those two embellished ladies provides 2022 the group’s strongest ladies’s light-weight roster but.
