Athletes
Kayla Harrison’s Quest To Greatness
Kayla Harrison Gets Her First Chance To Claim UFC Gold When She Faces Julianna Peña At UFC 316
For some, becoming a world champion in the UFC is the ultimate prize. For Kayla Harrison, that’s just an added cherry on top of everything she has already accomplished in her career.
Since joining the UFC last year, the 34-year-old has made it clear that at this point in her career, her main focus is to become a UFC champion. She gets the opportunity to make that dream come true and add to her list of accolades if she can defeat bantamweight champion Julianna Peña at UFC 316 this Saturday in Newark, New Jersey.
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Before even stepping into the Octagon, Harrison had an extremely successful career, picking up two Olympic medals as she became the first and only American to win an Olympic gold medal in Judo in 2012 and 2016. There’s a handful of UFC athletes that have competed in the Olympics, and several have gone on to fight for UFC gold, as well, but only one has been able to win a gold medal and secure the title of UFC champion.
If she can defeat Peña on Saturday night, Harrison will join Henry Cejudo as the second person to win an Olympic gold medal and a UFC title. Cejudo was a champion in both the flyweight and bantamweight divisions, one of the few fighters that held UFC belts in two divisions.
Ronda Rousey was the first American woman to medal in Olympic judo, but only medaled bronze when she competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Of course, Rousey’s legacy goes beyond that, as she was a part of UFC’s first female fight and became the inaugural women’s bantamweight champion.
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Sara McMann is also in the mix of athletes that represented the United States in the Olympics and also competed for a UFC title. McCann became the first American woman to earn an Olympic medal in wrestling when she picked up silver at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. McMann went on to face Rousey for the bantamweight title in only her second UFC fight, but came up short.
Harrison faces a similar path as she gets her crack at UFC gold in just her third UFC fight. The 34-year-old made her debut last April at UFC 300 against Holly Holm, who was a veteran in the UFC and no easy task for Harrison’s first fight inside the Octagon. But Harrison passed the test with flying colors, earning the second-round submission.
Six months later, Harrison returned to action in Salt Lake City and cemented herself as the No. 1 contender on the night the belt was on the line between Julianna Peña and Raquel Pennington. That night, Harrison faced Brazil’s Ketlen Vieira and picked up the win by unanimous decision. Even though it wasn’t the finish she was hoping for, Harrison was able to show off more of her skill set throughout a full 15 minutes at altitude.
Saturday's Fight By Fight Preview
Peña looks to pick up her first title defense in her second reign as UFC bantamweight champion, after claiming her belt against Pennington in October. “The Venezuelan Vixen” first became champion when she upset Amanda Nunes in 2021, submitting her in the second-round. The two ran it back at UFC 277, where Nunes got her belt back after 25 minutes of action.
There’s certainly been a lot of words said between Peña and Harrison in the lead-up to this fight, and there’s no doubt there will be more spoken at the press conference later this week, but words can only do so much once the Octagon door closes. And with former bantamweight champion and future Hall of Famer Amanda Nunes set to be in attendance in Newark, both ladies are out to put on their best performance inside Prudential Center, especially Harrison, who is hungry to achieve her goal of becoming UFC champion and continuing to add to her already impressive career.
UFC 316: Dvalishvili vs O'Malley 2 took place live from Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on June 7, 2025. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!
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