Exclusive: PFL star Kayla Harrison targets Amanda Nunes and Cris Cyborg
- Joe Hewlett
- 25 May 2022
The two-time Olympic champion Kayla Harrison is fighting in her third PFL tournament and is one of MMA's biggest female fighters.
Kayla Harrison is no ordinary fighter. A two-time Olympic champion in Judo, the American admitted she never thought about a career in MMA.
That was until Professional Fighters League (PFL) picked up the phone and asked her to compete in the cage. Harrison has since won two PFL lightweight tournaments in 2019 and 2021.
The 31-year-old - a former training partner to Ronda Rousey - has caught the attention of MMA's biggest names, including Amanda Nunes - a two-division UFC champion who Harrison calls a 'good friend'.
Harrison has confirmed this will her final tournament with the PFL and once the season concludes, she will be looking to take the biggest cross-promotional fights possible.
"I feel like I've been ready for a while. My coaches have kept me patient, my management team have kept me patient, but I've made it no secret that I want to be the best," Harrison told Planet Sport.
"In order to be the best, you have to beat the best. So the greatest compliment I can give to Amanda (Nunes) or (Cris) Cyborg is that I want to fight them because I think that they're the best. And that's where I want to be.
"So you know, I'm excited for the PFL this will be my last season with them. And next year, we're gonna move on to bigger. I won't say bigger actually because I do believe that the season is the most important thing.
"I think this is the future of the sport. But we're gonna move on to a different, something different for me to try and get those big fights."
Nunes is the current UFC featherweight champion and is bidding to avenge her defeat to Julianna Pena for the bantamweight title.
Cyborg, meanwhile, is Bellator's current featherweight champion and has made four successful defences of the belt.
While both fighters compete outside of PFL, Harrison insists she will remain on PFL and is hopeful of securing a lucrative showdown.
"I'm going to have a pay-per-view card with the PFL and they're maybe going to cross-promote, co-promote or just go ahead and steal some big fighters.
"I feel like you can't say PFL without Kayla Harrison and you can't say Kayla Harrison without PFL. We've been in the oven, we've been cooking (and) we've been growing slowly.
"I think this is the first big step to global domination," added Harrison.
