The UFC’s signing of former two-time Olympic judo gold medalist and two-time PFL tournament champion Kayla Harrison is big news at the moment, but what’s also getting a lot of attention is the fact that she plans to compete at bantamweight.
Best known for competing at 155lbs, eyebrows were raised when the UFC announced she’ll be fighting Holly Holm at 135lbs at UFC 300 in April, and it’s led to ‘The Preacher’s Daughter’ warning the newcomer that she must make sure she makes the limit on weigh-in day.
“I guess we’ll just see what happens when we get in there and we get to the fight,” Holm said on The MMA Hour show when asked for her thoughts on Harrison’s major weight cut. “I don’t really know her history, I don’t think she’s ever missed weight. So I think she can be professional about it.
“As long as it’s not one of those things where it’s like, ‘I’ll get close enough and then hopefully still get the fight,’ nothing like that. Be professional about it and make weight and we’re ready to rock and roll.”
When asked if she’d still agree to the fight if Harrison doesn’t make the 136lb limit and was offered a catchweight instead, Holm appeared to hint that she may follow fellow veteran Stephen Thompson’s lead and refuse to compete.
“I’m on the stance that you need to make weight, that’s just how it is,” Holm said. “I think that her mind set should be on, ‘I’m going to make weight,’ because she took the fight at 135. So I think it’s simple. I don’t think it should be super detailed.
“You think about the fight with ‘Wonderboy’ [Stephen Thompson] his opponent came in three pounds over and people were like, ‘Oh, it’s only three pounds.’ And he’s like, ‘Yeah, if it’s only three pounds, then go lose the three pounds.’ You know what I mean? There’s two ways to look at it. It’s only this or it’s only that.
“You can look at it from a lot of different angles, but as a professional, find out how to make weight. I work hard to make my weight, so I expect the same.”
