Kayla Harrison might only have two fights on her UFC record, but she sounds like an old pro when it comes to handling opponents during tense moments at press conferences.
On Thursday, the two-time Olympic champion got into a shouting match with reigning UFC bantamweight champion Julianna Peña before the fighters faced off in an intense staredown on stage. While they didn’t say much with UFC play-by-play man Jon Anik standing between them, the co-main event fighters did enjoy some verbal sparring beforehand.
The most fiery exchange came after Harrison was asked about potentially facing former teammate Amanda Nunes after UFC 316 is finished. Nunes has been teasing her return to action after retiring as a two-division champion back in 2023.
Harrison responded by saying “after I whoop her ass, I’m coming for Amanda.”
That earned a retort from Pena, who claimed Harrison’s only path to victory involved takedowns and a whole lot of stalling.
“Kayla, how are you going to beat me?” Pena shouted. “Like I asked you the last time. You gonna lay on top of me and cook the clock for 25 minutes? Because that’s literally you’re only chance to victory. That’s your only chance to beat me is laying on top of me for 25 minutes.”
Harrison then hit her with the line of the press conference after she brought up Pena’s record compared to her own.
“How are you going to beat me?” Harrison said. “You’ve been stopped three times. You’re 11-5. You’ve lost more fights than I’ve lost rounds in MMA.”
The crowd definitely got louder after the dig delivered by Harrison, but despite the bad blood between them, the faceoff didn’t result in any kind of physical altercation.
Instead, they’ll save up all that energy for Saturday night when Harrison and Pena meet in the co-main event with the women’s 135-pound title going up for grabs.
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