Kayla Harrison and a large portion of the MMA community seem to believe it’s an inevitability that she will defeat Julianna Pena to claim the UFC women’s bantamweight title.
Not so fast.
Peña (11-5 MMA, 8-3 UFC) recaptured the championship this month at UFC 307 with a split decision over Raquel Pennington in Salt Lake City. Earlier that night, two-time Olympic gold medalist Harrison (18-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) likely punched her ticket to a crack at gold with a victory over Ketlen Vieira.