Kayla Harrison believes Julianna Pena wants nothing to do with her.
Peña (12-5 MMA, 7-3 UFC) challenges bantamweight champion Raquel Pennington (16-9 MMA, 13-5 UFC) in the co-main event of Saturday’s UFC 307 (pay-per-view, ESPNews, ESPN+) at Delta Center in Salt Lake City.
In a recent interview with MMA Junkie, Peña said she plans on dethroning Pennington then luring Amanda Nunes out of retirement so they can complete their trilogy. Harrison (17-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC), who meets Ketlen Vieira (14-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) on the same night, expects to emerge as No. 1 contender with a win, but she doesn’t see Peña fighting her if she becomes champion.
“I think that Julianna, if she wins this fight against Raquel, is probably going to try and be inactive and push to have Amanda come back,” Harrison told CBS Sports. “She’s trying to avoid the inevitable. I wouldn’t want to fight me either, I get it. She’s calling out Amanda, she’s saying I’m on steroids.
“Julianna doesn’t have a win over someone in the top 15 right now. What has she been doing? She’s had two years off, coming off a loss. Now she’s going to fight for the title, she’s been blessed with this gift. Her time is coming, and more importantly my time is coming. I’ll be prepared for when it does, and I hope she is too.”
Peña pulled off a stunning upset win over Nunes at UFC 269 to claim the bantamweight title. Nunes was able to exact her revenge in their rematch, dominating a durable Peña to reclaim her title at UFC 277. Peña has not fought since.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 307.
