Can Kayla Harrison Make WMMA Exciting Again?
It is no secret that WMMA has been on a sharp decline regarding the interest surrounding women's fighters. Since the greatest woman mixed martial artist of all time, Amanda Nunes, retired in 2023, WMMA as a whole has seemingly faded into obscurity. Of course, there are still stars such as Zhang Weili and Valentina Shevchenko, but the lack of depth in their respective divisions has certainly diminished their star power. WMMA needs a new star to bring interest back into the sport. Perhaps Kayla Harrison can be that star.
When women were ushered into the UFC in 2013, it came with the biggest star in WMMA history. By crowning Ronda Rousey as the inaugural UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion, the UFC brought itself into the golden age of WMMA. Ronda Rousey, Amanda Nunes, Holly Holm, Cris Cyborg, and Joanna Jedrzejczyk were just a handful of notable names from this era. Fast forward to 2025, and not a single woman from that bunch is still with the UFC. The current landscape across all three WMMA divisions is bleak. Besides title challengers such as Manon Fiorot and Erin Blanchfield in the Flyweight division, no other division has solid challengers. That is, of course, excluding Bantamweight.
Kayla Harrison has done something a large part of women mixed martial artists have struggled to do: Gain attention from the UFC fanbase. The kicker? Harrison made a name for herself outside of the UFC. Kayla Harrison is a fascinating fighter to watch. With brute strength and unmatched grappling, Kayla Harrison has only been bested in one of her 19 professional fights. Harrison captured her first MMA championship in the PFL. After dominating nearly every opponent Harrison would face in the PFL, it was only a matter of time before she would jump over to the UFC. That jump would come at the groundbreaking UFC 300 when Kayla Harrison would ragdoll and submit former champion Holly Holm early in Round Two. After her dominant debut, Harrison would next take on Ketlen Vieira at UFC 307, in which she would win a clear unanimous decision.
With only two UFC wins under her belt, Harrison has proven she is more than ready for a championship opportunity. Lucky for Harrison, a championship opportunity is what she will get. Kayla Harrison will challenge UFC Bantamweight Champion Julianna Peña at the next big UFC event, UFC 316: Dvalishvili Vs. O’Malley 2. Peña, who recently captured the championship via a controversial decision against Raquel Pennington, is no easy fight. With all respect to the current champ, a Kayla Harrison win could do wonders for WMMA. It is extremely rare to find a fighter with Harrison's skill set. A fighter as dominant and destructive as Kayla Harrison to become a world champion would mean even more press for not just herself, but for all the top women in the UFC.
