It appears that Kayla Harrison may already have made her decision on where she will call home. The two-time Professional Fighters League lightweight tournament winner may end up staying with the PFL, per reports.
Ariel Helwani recently reported Harrison would likely return to the PFL, calling them the “strong front-runner.” The PFL has been looking to secure Harrison for its 2022 season. This is during a time when the UFC, Bellator, and even WWE are looking to sign the two-time Olympic gold medalist.
Following a successful judo career, Harrison joined the world of MMA. She made her PFL debut in 2018 and has dominated every opponent put in front of her. Now 12-0, Harrison has won five fights via knockout and five via submission. She even fought in Invicta FC in November 2020, bloodying up Courtney King in her featherweight debut.
Harrison last fought in October in the PFL Finals, beating Taylor Guardado via submission to win the 2021 lightweight tournament.
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If a return to the PFL came to fruition, it would be exactly what coach Anderson Franca believed should happen. He said the promotion is a good location for Harrison to continue building up her MMA career.
“Kayla is an Olympic athlete, she accepts great challenges and is ready too,” Franca told MMA Fighting. “If the fight gets done [and we say], ‘Kayla, you’ll fight Cris Cyborg tomorrow,’ she’ll fight her. Myself as a coach, I think she could stay one more year at PFL and go step by step, but I don’t know how the financial part is, if she will re-sign with the PFL or sign with another organization. I haven’t talked to her about that yet.”
Bellator has tried to sway Harrison with a potential fight against Cris Cyborg, while the UFC is has shown heavy interest in Harrison, per Helwani.