After finishing up her previous PFL contract, dominant champion Kayla Harrison became one of the hottest properties in the sport, with the likes of the UFC and Bellator both showing an interest in signing her, but in the end it turns out she’ll be staying with the promotion that first made her a star.
PFL have officially announced that Harrison has re-signed in a multi-year deal, but also sweetened the deal by revealing that they are also now moving into the pay-per-view market, and Harrison will features in a main event on of the upcoming PPV shows.
“It is a privilege to announce the PFL has signed the most dominant MMA fighter in the world, Kayla Harrison, to a new multi-year agreement,” PFL CEO Peter Murray said in a statement. “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.
“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.”
A former two-time Olympic judo gold medalist, Harrison switched her attention to MMA in 2018 and found instant success in the PFL promotion, amassing a perfect 14-0 record while winning two lightweight tournaments, each coming with a lucrative $1 million grand-prize.
That caught the attention of the UFC, who had Harrison Octagon-side to watch dominant UFC double-champion Amanda Nunes last fight against Julianna Pena, only for the underdog to defeat her in one of the sport’s all-time biggest upsets.
That seemed to put a halt to the UFC’s possible plans to stage a superfight between Nunes and Harrison, but meanwhile Bellator were also showing an interest in signing her too.
In fact, it’s been reported that Bellator attempted to pull out all the stops to sign Harrison with a major deal, but PFL still had the rights to match any offer she received, and they opted to do that to ensure she’ll remain with them for the foreseeable future.
