If Kayla Harrison’s aversion to weight-cutting is any indication of her future plans, we may not ever get the opportunity to see her as a full-time featherweight.
Kayla Harrison competed at featherweight for the first time in her career last Saturday at Invicta FC 43, where she brutalized Courtney King in a second-round TKO victory. But as convincing as the win was, it was a victory of circumstance because if not for the coronavirus pandemic, which sidelined this year’s PFL season, Harrison would not have been desperate to take a fight outside of her natural weight class of 155.
“I was kind of left with no option,” Harrison told TMZ Sports of her decision to accept the Invicta FC 43 bout against Courtney King. “No one really wanted to fight at 155 this year with the opportunities I was given. It was either, ‘Hey, don’t fight,’ or make the sacrifices and put the cookies down and put down the Halloween candy and get your butt on the treadmill.”
Prior to Saturday, all seven of Harrison’s professional MMA fights had been at lightweight, and you can expect her to return to 155 for her next fight because the entire concept of cutting weight is something Harrison does not endorse for herself or the next generation.
“I think that I was never a super big ’55,” Harrison said. “I walk around at 160, 165lbs. I just don’t believe in cutting weight. I don’t think it sends the right message to young kids, I don’t think it’s good for your body.”
There are two ways to interpret these comments. They could mean that Harrison will only compete at featherweight under desperate circumstances, which would call into question potential future fights against big names such as UFC double-champion Amanda Nunes; or, the comments could only be regarding the short term, with Harrison planning on changing her body composition to a lower walking-around weight if/when she makes the move to featherweight. The latter interpretation is supported by Harrison’s recent statements about “chasing” Amanda Nunes. Either way, based on what we’ve seen thus far, Harrison will be a legitimate threat to anyone in any weight class she chooses to compete at.
Do you think we will ever see Kayla Harrison competing full-time at featherweight?
