Dana White either has a mild interest in signing Kayla Harrison or he is executing some top-notch reverse psychology in his comments made on Monday.
Wednesday, Kayla Harrison will be looking to repeat as the PFL women’s lightweight champion when she takes on Taylor Guardado in the 2021 PFL season finale. After the fight, Harrison will be a free agent and is expected to have her pick of the litter of MMA organizations, foreign and domestic.
Many people believe the UFC’s malnourished women’s featherweight division is in desperate need of a fighter like Harrison, and White himself has expressed an interest in talking with the Olympian about possibly signing with the promotion.
In a Monday interview with TSN, however, White didn’t exactly sound eager to pull out all the stops to land the highly touted future free agent. On the contrary, he practically shoved Harrison back in the PFL’s direction with some shocking advice.
“They pay her an obscene amount of money to fight over there,” White said of Harrison’s PFL stint. “If I was her, I’d stay right where she is and keep picking off the people over [there]. When you come here [chuckles], Amanda Nunes is no joke; Shevchenko is no joke; Rose Namajunas—these are all the best women in the world, the best female fighters in the world.”
“I don’t blame her. I would stay there and keep fighting the type of women she’s fighting there before I would come here and fight an Amanda Nunes, that’s for damn sure.”
If White’s formal negotiations with Harrison match his rhetoric here, then it appears the UFC president will continue to adopt the hands-off approach that another Olympian, Gable Steveson, spotlighted during his free agency. Stevenson would ultimately sign with the WWE after implying that White and the UFC brass did not actively pursue his services.
Kayla Harrison has not shown her hand yet as to what her future plans are. After she hears these comments from White, they may very well play a factor in her decision-making, which could quite possibly be influenced by some classic reverse psychology.
Do you think Dana White is using reverse psychology on Kayla Harrison here? Or is this sincere advice he is providing the future free agent?
