Kayla Harrison details first successful weight cut to 135 at UFC 300, says process ‘makes you more violent’

Kayla Harrison can officially call herself a UFC bantamweight.

The two-time Olympic gold medalist and two-time PFL lightweight champion tipped the scales at 136 pounds on Friday, successfully making weight for her bantamweight debut against Holly Holm at UFC 300. Harrison has never fought professionally below 145 pounds — and competed in judo at 171 pounds for her two Olympic runs — so her weight cut was one of the biggest unanswered questions of the week. Shortly after hitting her mark, Harrison explained just how challenging the unlikely drop to bantamweight has been.

“It was better than I thought, to be honest,” Harrison said on UFC’s official weigh-in show. “I was expecting it to be absolutely miserable for, I don’t know, weeks and weeks and weeks. But it’s crazy when you actually listen to your nutritionist and you fuel your body and you eat really clean. Like, mentally I started feeling better, I was properly fueled.

“My training camp, this has been the best I’ve felt of any camp. I don’t know if it’s because I just have so much energy, like the attitude of gratitude has kind of taken over my body or what, but everyone’s played a huge role in it. And really, the hardest part was the last pound. Just that last [pound]. And it’s like, you don’t get a good night’s sleep, and you’re just kind of like uncomfortable in your body.”

Harrison, 33, said she finished off that final pound on Friday morning before UFC 300’s official weigh-ins. Her bout against Holm is a non-title bout, meaning she was allotted a one-pound allowance. Harrison would be required to hit 135 pounds or below for any championship bout, however she’s unconcerned. As an athlete who’s long dreamed of reaching this moment, Harrison said the process involved has only made her better.

“It feels great [to be in UFC],” Harrison said. “I definitely went through a lot of frustration. It’s all coming together at the perfect time, so I’m not looking in the past, but there were moments where I was like, ‘I’m probably going to have to come to peace with the fact that I might not fight in the UFC, it might not be in the cards for me.’ I was not expecting me to go down to 135, so that was a big hurdle, and a big kind of, like, surrender that I had to accept. Like, if you want this, if this is really your dream, you’re going to have to be all in. You’re going to have to make sacrifices. Your whole family, your team, everyone is going to have to make sacrifices to get you here. And I don’t know, I live my life on fire. This is what I want.

“This [experience] has built me and shaped me and molded me into an even more evolved, higher-operating version of myself, if that makes sense. The sacrifice, the stress. When you’re cutting weight, heat acclamation, you’re sitting in a sauna three times a week by yourself, with your thoughts. You’re doing extra cardio, you’re taking long walks, you’re on the bike for 90 minutes. You’re hungry. It’s like a different kind of hungry, and you’re sitting with your thoughts, and it makes you more violent. And I’m ready.”

Harrison’s bout against Holm is an important one. The women’s bantamweight division continues to exist in a state of flux following the retirement of longtime champ Amanda Nunes in 2023. Raquel Pennington recently captured the belt with a win over Mayra Bueno Silva and Julianna Peña remains in the wings as a top contender, but outside of that, the cupboard is relatively barren at 135 pounds. A successful debut for Harrison on Saturday would immediately inject a much-needed shot of life into a listless weight class.

“I’ve just never really played easy or played it safe,” Harrison said. “I feel like I’ve had a lot of success in my MMA career, I’ve been very blessed financially, I am happy with everything that I’ve done in my life. I’m a world champion, a two-time Olympic champion, I’ve won every tournament there is to win in judo, I’ve gotten plenty of money in the bank. But when I started MMA, the goal was to be UFC champion. And I had a year to think about if that was still my goal — and it is. I want to be UFC champion and I want to give it my all, and whatever happens, I’m OK with it. But I know I’m going to be UFC champion.”