Kayla Harrison Makes More Than Ronda Rousey?

Not only does Ali Abdelaziz claim Harrison is the highest paid woman in MMA ever, he says she’s also the third highest paid fighter in the whole sport.

After a drawn out process, Olympic gold medalist and rising MMA star Kayla Harrison ended her free agency by re-signing with the PFL, where she’s won all 11 of her fights over the past three years.

There were a lot of twists and turns to that journey. It seemed like the UFC was ready to sign her up to fight Amanda Nunes … until Nunes lost a shocking upset to Juliana Pena, leaving Kayla literally swearing at cageside. Then Bellator offered her a big money contract, perhaps hoping Scott Coker could make more lightning in a bottle after shepherding Ronda Rousey into the mainstream consciousness.

But the PFL went ahead and matched Bellator’s offer. And according to Harrison’s manager Ali Abdelaziz, the new deal makes her the highest paid female fighter in the history of mixed martial arts.

“Kayla is the highest (paid) female fighter ever,” Abdelaziz said in an interview with MMA Junkie. “I know Adesanya say this, Masvidal say this. The highest-paid male fighter in the UFC is Conor McGregor. No. 2 is Kamaru Usman. Everybody else – I guarantee you Kayla Harrison makes more money than these other two guys I just mentioned. I guarantee you.”

“Her and Kamaru, they’re friends and they’re kind of competing right now. They’re neck and neck. They’re very very close, but listen: she’s the queen of the castle, she’s the number one draw in the PFL … They matched the deal and some [more] on top of it.”

“Kayla’s now gonna be in the 2022 [PFL] season, she’s gonna run through everybody like she always does,” Abdelaziz said. “It doesn’t matter who she’s gonna fight. I believe she is the best female combat athlete right now – in boxing, in MMA, and she’s the most dominant. She cannot be touched. This woman, nobody even hit her. I believe none of these women out there inside PFL, UFC, Bellator, anybody can touch her.”

It’s a somewhat shocking statement if true: that Kayla Harrison isn’t just the highest paid woman of all time, but the third highest paid fighter in all of MMA. Of course, it helps that MMA pay and UFC pay in particular is shrouded in mystery. Even most US commissions have largely stopped providing fight purse information, leaving us largely in the dark when it comes to how much the Usmans, Adesanyas and Masvidals of the sport make.

But we do know roughly how much Ronda Rousey made, and it was a hell of a lot. Back in 2015 when “Rowdy” was at the top of the UFC, Forbes pinned her as the 8th highest paid woman in all of sports with $6.5 million in earnings over a twelve month period. Can Kayla Harrison really earn that much via the PFL?

Well, she’s almost certainly going to run through the 145 pound women’s tournament earning a million bucks there. It wouldn’t be shocking to learn her contract nets her another million plus on top of that. And if she’s got pay-per-view points, one big event that captures the public’s attention could indeed push her into the sphere of Rousey money.

It’s certainly not guaranteed money, but what is guaranteed in the world of mixed martial arts. As always, we’re just happy to see our athletes getting the opportunity to be paid.