Kayla Harrison had two things on her mind Thursday at the UFC 300 pre-fight press conference: “It’s a belt and a burger.”
Well, the former PFL lightweight champion and two-time Olympic gold medal-winning judoka can begin thinking about that burger and preparing her order after successfully making weight Friday ahead of her bantamweight and UFC debut. If she beats Holm then she can set her sights on a UFC championship belt.
Harrison is set to compete in the 135-pound weight class for the first time in her mixed martial arts career when she faces former bantamweight champion Holly Holm in a featured preliminary bout Saturday.
The 33-year-old Harrison typically competes at 155 pounds, a weight class unavailable to women in the UFC. She has fought once previously in the featherweight division, but the UFC got rid of their women’s 145-pound division in 2023 when two-weight champion Amanda Nunes announced her retirement last summer.
Harrison’s goal was to become a UFC champion and since the biggest division for women in the UFC is currently 135 pounds, the multiple-time Olympic and world champion decided to challenge herself in ways she previously had not.
“She has more muscle on her body than 135 pounds. So, her body is going to have to eat itself to make that weight class,” Harrison’s longtime coach and mentor Jimmy Pedro told Sportsnet’s Emily Sadler in the lead-up to UFC 300. “She’s going to do it because she’s a professional and she has professional people helping her, but I am telling you it is going to be a difficult weight cut for Kayla and you will see a significant difference in her body structure, just because she’s had to lose muscle to get there.”
Harrison stepped on the scale Friday at 136 pounds looking emaciated yet strong, and said on the UFC’s weigh-in show her cut “went better than she thought” it would go.
Holm at age 42 stepped on the scale shredded, also weighing 136 pounds. Athletes are given a one-pound allowance for non-title bouts.
“I’m humbled. I’m grateful for the opportunity and we’re gonna throw down on Saturday night,” Harrison said Thursday. “It’s gonna be ground-and-pound. There’s gonna be a lot of blood on the canvas.”
All 26 fighters scheduled to compete at UFC 300 made weight on their first attempt Friday, including main event competitors Alex Pereira and Jamahal Hill, co-main event strawweights Zhang Weili and Yan Xiaonan, plus BMF Title opponents Justin Gaethje and Max Holloway.
Official UFC 300 weigh-ins results:
MAIN CARD
— Alex Pereira (205) vs. Jamahal Hill (205)
— Zhang Weili (115) vs. Yan Xiaonan (115)
— Justin Gaethje (156) vs. Max Holloway (156)
— Charles Oliveira (156) vs. Arman Tsarukyan (156)
— Bo Nickal (186) vs. Cody Brundage (186)
PRELIMINARY CARD
— Jiri Prochazka (206) vs. Aleksandar Rakic (206)
— Calvin Kattar (145.5) vs. Aljamain Sterling (146)
— Holly Holm (136) vs. Kayla Harrison (136)
— Sodiq Yusuff (146) vs. Diego Lopes (146)
— Jalin Turner (155.5) vs. Renato Moicano (156)
— Jéssica Andrade (116) vs. Marina Rodriguez (116)
— Bobby Green (156) vs. Jim Miller (155.5)
— Deiveson Figueiredo (135.5) vs. Cody Garbrandt (136)
