Kayla Harrison thinks UFC bantamweight champion Raquel Pennington will fail in her first title defense.
Julianna Peña (11-5 MMA, 7-3 UFC) has announced that her title fight against Pennington (16-8 MMA, 13-5 UFC) is scheduled to take place on October 5 at UFC 307 in Salt Lake City. Harrison (17-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) predicts that Peña will beat Pennington.
“It's a tough choice,” Harrison told MMA Junkie Radio. “I tend to bet on the grapplers, so I think Peña will win, but I'm open to anybody winning. I'm going to fight them both on the same night.”
Harrison, a two-time Olympic gold medal judoka and PFL champion, defeated former champion Holly Holm by second-round submission in her promotional debut in April at UFC 300. A year later, Harrison doesn't think either Peña or Pennington are in the running for the title.
“Now that I've won the title, I'm going to hype up the fight with Amanda (Nunes), and she's not going to be able to handle it and she's going to come back,” Harrison said.
Harrison and Nunes have been rumored to be fighting for years, but the chances of a fight were slim during Harrison's time with the PFL, and by the time Harrison made the jump to the UFC, Nunes had already retired about a year earlier.
But Harrison is confident that a bantamweight title shot could lure his former American Top Team teammate out of retirement.
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