Las Vegas — Welterweight Carlston Harris, who returns to action at UFC Vegas 101 this Saturday, fought but once in 2024, and wasn’t thrilled about it.
“I mean, as a fighter you have to be more active, man,” Harris (19-6) exclaimed during this week’s UFC Vegas 101 media day, clearly frustrated by his lack of activity. “There’s bills to pay, so one fight a year, it’s not good.”
Harris’s lone appearance in 2024 was a loss to Khaos Williams, and was his second year with just a single fight since joining the UFC. The same situation arose in 2022, when his lone fight was a loss to Shavkat Rakhmonov. In between, Harris earned back-to-back wins over Jared Gooden and Jeremiah Wells.
Adding insult to, well, lack of injury was the fact that Harris wasn’t hurt in 2024. He just couldn’t get a fight booked. “Sometimes there’s opponents that don’t accept fights. That’s the whole issue,” he revealed, confirming that “I don’t have a health issue, I’m healthy all the time.”
Unlike would-be opponents, Harris had no problem saying yes to a high-profile scrap with Santiago Ponzinibbio. The pairing serves as the co-main event at UFC Vegas 101, which kicks off 2025 for the promotion.
“I’ve never refused a fight, so for me, it’s just another working day. It don’t matter who they offer me, if I’m not injured I will always accept a challenge. Any challenge.”
“I’m excited to fight Santiago. It’s a big name, he’s a veteran of the game, experienced fighter,” Harris added. “It’s a good name.”
It’s also likely to be an entertaining fight, he believes, thanks to the pair’s similar, action-packed styles. “You have to give the fans what they want to see. Santiago, he has a very aggressive style like myself. It’s a good match-up for the fans.”
Carlston Harris received his black belt in BJJ this past December, though he told Cageside Press that there’s no pressure to go out and earn a submission win. As to earning that much sought-after achievement, “Black belt’s great, after 11 years of hard training. It’s a black belt in jiu-jitsu, but I’m also a black belt in literally everything. So it’s great, yeah.”
Watch the full UFC Vegas 101 media day appearance by Carlston Harris above.
