Kayla Harrison has her sights set on the undisputed UFC women’s bantamweight title, but isn’t too convinced that the champion will be keen to face her in the Octagon.
Julianna Pena became a two-time bantamweight champion when she edged a split decision verdict to dethrone Raquel Pennington in the co-main event of UFC 307 in Salt Lake City. It was a verdict that contradicted most of the media scores shared online, and Harrison concurred with the media’s assessment of the fight, rather than that of the judges.
“Usually there’s a couple of people that disagree, but everyone scored it (for Pennington) and I thought, based on what I saw, that she won the fight,” she told Grind City Media.
“It’s kind of like unspoken rule in our sport – you’ve got to earn the title. You can’t steal the title. You’ve got to earn it. So I just felt bad for her. I wouldn’t want to lose like that.”
Harrison fought earlier in the night and picked up a much clearer-cut decision victory, as she claimed scores of 30-27, 30-27, 29-28 to defeat Brazilian contender Ketlen Vieira and put herself in line for the next shot at the title.
But, with Pena opting to swerve Joe Rogan’s question about a fight with Harrison and instead using the moment to call for Amanda Nunes to come out of retirement to face her in a trilogy fight, Harrison said that the UFC may have a tough job on their hands trying to convince “The Venezuelan Vixen” to defend her title against Harrison next.
“I feel like she’s gonna find opportunities to run,” she stated.
“She’s already set the tone with steroid accusations, and then she’s not impressed with my performance, and now she wants to call out someone who’s been retired for several years.
“Then she says I’m not calling (Nunes) out. I’m not calling her out because she’s f*****g retired and doesn’t have the title.
“After I beat everybody in the division, 100 percent I want to fight Amanda. After I have the title, I am gonna call for Amanda, because I do believe it’ll be a great fight, and she should start training now so she has extra time to prepare for that fight.
“But in the meantime, I want to become UFC champion, that’s what I want to become. I think that’s it going to be hard to make Julianna fight me. But, we’ll see. That’s not my job, thank God!”