Kayla Harrison
Olympic Result: Gold, 2012 and 2016
Kayla Harrison, winner of two PFL titles and two Olympic gold medals, nearly had a shot at Olympic glory in 2008, the same year Ronda Rousey won bronze in Beijing. However, having switched divisions from 63kg to 78kg, she was ineligible to compete, having not qualified for the games in her new weight class.
It all worked out in the end. Despite missing out on the 2008 games, Harrison went on to win gold in 2012 and 2016, becoming known as “Judo Kayla” and absolutely dominating the sport. The wins in London and Rio added to a whole host of accomplishments, mostly gold medals, for the 6th dan black belt, who holds numerous Junior, Pan American, and World Championship medals.
In 2018, Harrison signed with the PFL with exactly zero professional fights to her name. But that Judo skill set and an oversized personality made her an instant star of the organization, almost certainly the promotion’s biggest during her heyday there.
Harrison would start her career by amassing a 15-0 record and winning two PFL seasons at lightweight, the only division for women offered by the promotion at the time. Those wins came in 2019 and 2021 (the 2020 season was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic; Harrison would take a single fight in Invicta FC, still repping the PFL, at featherweight that year, dominating an out-gunned Courtney King). In 2022, Harrison made it to the finals again, only to lose to Larissa Pacheco in a shock upset— extra shocking given Harrison had defeated Pacheco twice previously.
She bounced back with a win over UFC vet Aspen Ladd last year, then made a surprise signing with the UFC ahead of her debut at UFC 300, moving to bantamweight, where she had never before competed. Harrison returns at UFC 307, where she is scheduled to face Ketlen Vieira in a fight expected to earn Kayla a title shot with a win.
