There's a very good possibility Kayla Harrison will be a bust

[blaseblase]

I know she's an Olympian but her accomplishments in Judo were in an very weak division. And her MMA competition has been against smaller girls fighting up to accommodate her.

Women's bantamweight isn't a good division by any means but it's better than the one she's been competing in by a significant margin. And if she's actually getting into shape to make 135 she's giving up that size advantage. Holly knows how to deal with judo and has a much improved clinch game since she fought Ronda. Even at 42, she's a dangerous matchup.

One thing Kayla has over Ronda is defensively she is much better. I doubt she runs into a headkick. But her striking is still pretty rudimentary.

 

[Marko Polo]

 

[LiQuiD42]

I agree. She has lost in PFL before. I do believe that the time is right for her with Amanda Nunes gone to try to make a run for it. Her strong Nordic figure should give her an advantage.

 

[Ianstaine]

I agree, Holly is a decent bet

 

[Blastbeat]

im not sure she can make the weight. she's a pretty stocky woman with a lot of muscle. i dont know if she's ever competed at 135 before either.

call me a conspiracy theorist, but ive got a hunch that the UFC may be deliberately doing this to drain Kayla, then when Holly beats her Dana can say "see? she wasn't fighting good competition outside of the UFC!!!"

let's see how she looks once the fight gets closer. i get a feeling this may become a catchweight fight.

 

[Fjord]

Yes. She's a hulking and slow moving fighter.

 

[Luthien]

Kayla vs Ronda It will happen, so Holly is toast!

 

[Elvis.]

I agree, Holly is a decent bet

I agree , she’s +320 right now , hard not to splash that a bit

 

[laleggenda27]

Did Kayla become wildly overrated beating low-level fighters? Obviously. But WBW is full of low-level fighters. So if she can actually make the weight, don't be surprised if she gets the belt. A very favorable path has already been laid out for her to become champion: beating 42-year-old Holly and the Pennington-Pena winner. That's not exactly a murderer's row.

Now if Nunes comes back and has anything left in the tank, she'd flatline Kayla.

 

[xhaydenx]

PFL has some girls like Mohk and Martens who are better than most of the UFC BWs, but yeh, I still think Kayla's going to be a flop.

There's like 1 win on her record that is against a girl who had consistently fought at LW, and she was a bum. The rest of them are just fattened up FLWs wanting a shot at a million dollars.

I think the cut to 135 is going to affect her a lot, but we'll see.

She might be a bit too old now, but Prime Holly would have beaten Kayla in every area of MMA pretty easily.

 

[MMAFanCal]

Holly might wall and stall her way to another victory against a depleted and drained Kayla who killed herself to make 135 lbs.

 

[NoSmilez]

Harrison doesn't really need to rely on her judo in MMA. Her style is nothing like Ronda's. She doesn't have the clean grappling and she can't fight off her back like Ronda. She is more of a wrestler in MMA. She will be testing Holm's single and double leg takedown defense more. On the ground it would be mainly positions to punch first. She doesn't really look for the sub unless it is there.

I believe the loss in the PFL was a fluke. She showed up soft against a girl she already beat twice. The fight was also very close since Harrison gassed. It's not some blowout. This fight will be one of her biggest tests since Holm is very experienced.

 

[ChickenBrother]

Some folks are underestimating how fucking hard it is to qualify for the Olympics, let alone medal in a deep international sport like Judo. Ditto for guys like Cejudo who was clearly phoning it in early in his MMA career but stepped it up toward the end.

Ronda gets a lot of (deserved) hate but she was a die hard competitor. When she coached on the Ultimate Fighter, one of her fighters didn't make weight and she was like WTF and cut 16 lbs herself that afternoon just to show how it's done. And she also won the coaches' challenge on some climbing wall vs. Meisha while in the middle of her cut. Love her or hate her, that was fucking badass.

But in MMA, Ronda bought into her own hype and didn't evolve. Holly beat her because she thought she could get by with her Edward Tarverdyan head mu'ment while walking right up to clinch, no level changes or anything.

Kayla is not Ronda. Having watched about half her PFL fights and some of her interviews, she comes off MUCH more humble and self-deprecating. Yes she's been fighting mostly blown up cans in PFL but she's been going for level changes, completing double legs, etc. so clearly has been working on a well-rounded MMA game. And critically, she's received practically zero mainstream attention so is still hungry to prove herself.

The weight cut will be tough and IMO she will look like a shell of her former self at 135. But it's possible this goes like Sean Sherk who was destroying guys at 170 and only cut to 155 for the first time at age 33 because the opportunity was there. At the time, he said he hadn't made 155 since high school.

 

[jeskola]

I know she's an Olympian but her accomplishments in Judo were in an very weak division. And her MMA competition has been against smaller girls fighting up to accommodate her.

Women's bantamweight isn't a good division by any means but it's better than the one she's been competing in by a significant margin. And if she's actually getting into shape to make 135 she's giving up that size advantage. Holly knows how to deal with judo and has a much improved clinch game since she fought Ronda. Even at 42, she's a dangerous matchup.

One thing Kayla has over Ronda is defensively she is much better. I doubt she runs into a headkick. But her striking is still pretty rudimentary.

Holm will piece her up and send her back to the minor leagues like so many UFC newcomers before her.

 

[Human Bass]

PFL rules didnt help her. With elbows she will be much more violent. Now the weight cut is a problem

 

[Poirierfan]

Kayla will be just fine in the UFC, she's jacked AF.

 

[BoxingMMA]

Clash of styles plus holly being way past her prime make me think the intention behind this match is holly gets blanketed for a boring UD… but such was the intention for Askren as well. We can only hope smaller Fabio knocks roided Fabio out

 

[Poirierfan]

Some folks are underestimating how fucking hard it is to qualify for the Olympics, let alone medal in a deep international sport like Judo. Ditto for guys like Cejudo who was clearly phoning it in early in his MMA career but stepped it up toward the end.

Ronda gets a lot of (deserved) hate but she was a die hard competitor. When she coached on the Ultimate Fighter, one of her fighters didn't make weight and she was like WTF and then cut 16 lbs herself that afternoon just to show how it's done. And she also won the coaches' challenge on some climbing wall vs. Meisha while in the middle of her cut. Love her or hate her, that was fucking badass.

But in MMA, Ronda bought into her own hype and didn't evolve. Holly beat her because she thought she could get by with her Edward Tarverdyan head mu'ment while walking right up to clinch, no level changes or anything.

Kayla is not Ronda. Having watched about half her PFL fights and seen some of her interviews, she comes off MUCH more humble and self-deprecating. Yes she's been fighting mostly blown up cans in PFL but she's been going for level changes, completing double legs, etc. so clearly has been working on a well-rounded MMA game. And critically, she's received nowhere near the mainstream attention Ronda got so is still hungry with a chip on her shoulder.

The weight cut will be tough and IMO she will look like a shell of her former self at 135. But it's possible this goes like Sean Sherk who was destroying guys at 170 and only cut to 155 for the first time at age 33 because the opportunity was there. At the time, he said he hadn't made 155 since high school.

Women's Judo in America isn't very deep, it's not like mens wrestling where every elementary school and high school has it. So outta all the sports women's Judo would be one of the easier Olympic's to qualify for.

 

[Mmmmmmma1234]

A younger Holly would be a problem but MBS easily pushed her against the cage and choked her to tap.

If Kayla isn't dead from the cut old Holly will get thrown around the cage with ease. This Holly knows judo is overblown thought Rhonda wasn't even close to Kayla's judo level or her strength. Kayla big sister'd Rhonda in practice all the time. And her stand up is more refined.

 

[ChickenBrother]

Holm will piece her up and send her back to the minor leagues like so many UFC newcomers before her.

Probably back to Japan where the competition is a little easier.