Fearless! ‘Nobody Scares Me’ In UFC, PFL, Or Bellator

WASHINGTON D.C. — Kayla Harrison is officially back.

The 2023 PFL Championship fight week is underway and the action is set to go down inside The Anthem in Washington D.C. this weekend (Fri., Nov. 24, 2023). Amongst the 12-fight line up will be a 150-pound Catchweight affair, featuring the returning former two-time Lightweight titleholder, Harrison. She’ll take on former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Bantamweight contender, Aspen Ladd, after originally paired with former Bellator Featherweight queenpin, Julia Budd.

Harrison’s fight with Ladd will close out her current contract with the promotion, sending her back into free agency for the first time since early 2022. No matter where Harrison winds up next, she won’t back down from the potential challenges.

“Listen, have you ever known me to shy away from a fight or say no to fighting someone? No,” Harrison said on The MMA Hour. “It doesn’t matter what promotion you are. I don’t care. I believe in myself. I don’t care. Everyone’s like ‘Well you lost.’ Yeah, guess what? Sometimes giants fall. Sometimes, s—t happens. Sometimes you lose. Sometimes you stumble but it’s not what happens then. It’s what happens after you stumble. I’m not afraid of hard work. I’m not afraid of climbing back up. I’m not afraid of pushing myself and saying no, that’s not it, I’m not done. I’m still here. I’ve got something to prove. I’m not afraid of it. In fact, I relish it.

“Nobody in the UFC, nobody in Bellator, and nobody in PFL scares me and I’m willing to put that on the line. I bet on myself,” she concluded.

With Bellator now integrated into PFL, Harrison’s options limit greatly limited outside of her current fighting home. Naturally, only UFC is left, but without any foundation above the 135-pound Bantamweight division.

Harrison has briefly had the idea in mind about attempting to drop down if necessary. Ultimately, it wouldn’t be ideal.

“I mean 135 will challenge me in ways like I’m going to have to lose a piece of me to be able to fight at 135 pounds,” Harrison said. “I think just structurally, I carry a lot of muscle. I’m already kind of lean, so I’m going to have to lose muscle. I’m going to have to change my entire lifestyle. I mean I have already done that to fight at 145.

“It’s crazy what happens when you take care of your body and eat properly and sleep and recover,” she concluded. “I was a knucklehead when I was younger. But I have faith whatever is meant to be, will be.”