Kayla Harrison is probably the most high-profile UFC signing of the last five years.
Aside from short-notice replacements, it’s rare nowadays for the promotion to venture beyond their Contenders Series and The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) feeder systems. Kickboxing champion or not, everyone (mostly) debuts on the same cheap starter contract. Costs are kept low, and the promotion is only willing to engage in a bidding war if they fully believe in the talent and star potential of the athlete in discussion.
Harrison’s talent is undeniable. The first-ever US women’s Judo gold medalist largely ran roughshod over her Professional Fighter’s League (PFL) peers, dominating her way to lots of finishes and two tournament victories. She’s always more than willing to put the work in and meet the UFC halfway, going through an addition 20-pounds of arduous weight cutting in order to make the women’s Bantamweight limit.
There in lies the problem, however. Harrison is killing herself to make weight! She competed at 155-pounds in PFL and 172-pounds in Olympic Judo. The cut is going to affect her performance at some point, and the 34-year-old lifelong athlete shouldn’t be expected to fight all that many times in this class.
Worse still: women’s Bantamweight is an absolutely godawful division. It has only been passable because of the two previous divisional greats, Ronda Rousey and Amanda Nunes. Both women destroyed their challengers in such a dominant fashion it was occasionally hilarious, which certainly helps fans excuse the lack of depth.
Unfortunately, the contender pool remains stagnant. Julianna Pena has been on the UFC roster for 11 years, has never been particularly great or developed her skill set, and she’s still managed to capture the belt twice! Raquel Pennington, the No. 1 contender, is also from that first season of (TUF) coached by none other than Rousey all those years ago. The rest of the division is littered with relics as well — Miesha Tate is still ranked! If Holly Holm hadn’t jumped ship in the hopes of securing GFL millions, she’d still be in the Top Five!
There’s just not a lot of talent on the rise at 135-pounds, certainly not anything inspiring. If Harrison runs over Pena as oddsmaker’s expect, she’s lined herself up for a super fight with former champion — who was retired, by the way — Amanda Nunes.
That’s a great match up that would move some pay-per-view (PPV) buys.
Afterward? It’s barren. Might as well run an immediate rematch just to do it. There’s not much else available that could possibly capitalize on Harrison as potential star.
Then, there’s the Rousey issue. Still the biggest star in the history of women’s MMA, Rousey haunts the division (in part because it’s full of the same people). In Harrison’s case, she will inevitably be compared to Rousey because of their shared Olympic Judo history. It’s not a fair comparison. Though Harrison is undoubtedly the “better” fighter, she does not win in such dramatic or quick fashion.
Nobody does! It’s a ridiculously high bar and unfair comparison. But it’s one casual fans will apply to Harrison regardless, and that’s the base she has to win over if she’s to become a super star.
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This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
