Is Kayla Harrison (Olympic Judoka) a legit prospect?

[Degen Gambler]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/olympic-judo-gold-medalist-kayla-214235601.html

Is it still possoble for an Olympic level Judoka to come to the UFC and be a contender or has the game changed too much since the Rousey era? Could she take a fight withh Cyborg?

 

[Project 86]

shes too big to fight in the ufc tho she did judo at 165 pounds

 

[Haj01]

No, there can't be two "once in a lifetime" athletes....

 

[Degen Gambler]

shes too big to fight in the ufc tho she did judo at 165 pounds

Why cant she fight Cyborg?

 

[PoaaH]

Why cant she fight Cyborg?

everybody knows cyborg would literally destroy miss harrison on every level there is, even grappling
and she would also destroy the whole usa national judo team

 

[AKA_Steve_B]

how about this beast instead -- @ 238 lbs for a woman .

https://www.yahoo.com/news/female-mma-fighter-doesnt-rule-out-fighting-men-010809358.html

 

[Nathan LaMontagne]

Why cant she fight Cyborg?

Because cyborg would never go up in weight

 

[Darwinambrosius]

Gabi pls

 

[Gorbag]

Harrison would destroy Cyborg at 155 lbs even without training any striking at all, no way in hell that Cyborg would knock her out before clinching.

 

[joeyjoejoe]

Where is she training? A legit MMA gym?

 

[eiyuu]

All depends on what she concentrates on in Judo. Far too often, in Olympic Judo, they emphasize tachi waza (or the standup aspect with all the sweeps and throws) and don't do enough ne waza (groundfighting and submissions.)

Which is why other Judoka Olympic medalists (Pawel Nastula, Naoya Ogawa) don't do well in MMA.

She'll need to brush up on her ne waza if she wants to compete in MMA.

 

[SirKratos]

Bring in Mackenzie Dern already, she will Grapplefuck all strawweights

 

[LostMyBlackBelt]

She is in the 78 kilo division last 2 Olympics, 172 pounds

 

[MMAAAM]

how about this beast instead -- @ 238 lbs for a woman .

https://www.yahoo.com/news/female-mma-fighter-doesnt-rule-out-fighting-men-010809358.html

She left her womahood behind a lot of cycles ago...

 

[Roca]

Pretend that I made a comment which would get my in trouble, thanks.

 

[Gorbag]

Harrisons skills on the ground is at least on pair with Ronda, probably better. Think about Kayla as Rondas "big sister" - the bigger, badder and even more skilled version of Ronda. Good luck Cyborg lol...

 

[Felis]

Well, until the UFC starts a w145 division (or want more fighters they have to do catchweights for...) I don't see her in the UFC, I really doubt she'd be able to get down to 135.
At Featherweight I wouldn't be surprised if she became a contender or even got the belt eventually. Even with the improved situation of wMMA nowadays, her longtime olympic Judo training should still give her a pretty good adavantage over a lot of the other female fighters. It's not a guarantee that she'll be successful (see Sara McMann...) and even if she is it will probably not be to the same extent as Rousey, but I'd say her chances look pretty good.
I do NOT think she'd win against Cyborg right now tho.

 

[Askafan]

Cyborg is already ducking Dandois so I can't see her taking on another judo girl in a small money fight.

 

[BigMuffler]

Harrison would destroy Cyborg at 155 lbs even without training any striking at all, no way in hell that Cyborg would knock her out before clinching.

We have no clue how she would react to coming under heavy fire though.

 

[Gorbag]

We have no clue how she would react to coming under heavy fire though.

Cyborg has not shown any one punch knock out power so far and Kayla is a large, very tough, and skilled female - it will be over soon after they clinch. Cyborg will be thrown into whatever dominant position Kayla want and then submitted or pounded into a TKO. I'll give Cyborg max 2 minutes if they fight at 155 lbs...