Kayla Harrison defeats no. 2 ranked Ketlen Vieira in UFC 307 main card opener

The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to us tonight, October 5, 2024, for UFC 307, going down live from the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Headlining the event is a light-heavyweight title bout between Alex Pereira (11-2) and no. 8 ranked Khalil Rountree Jr (13-5).

Co-headlining the event is a women’s bantamweight title bout between Raquel Pennington (16-8) and no. 1 ranked former champion Julianna Pena (11-5).

Opening up the main card tonight was also a women’s bantamweight clash, this one coming between no. 2 ranked Ketlen Vieira (14-4) and no. 3 ranked former two-time PFL lightweight champion Kayla Harrison (18-1) in what was certainly a no. 1 contender bout for the winner of tonight’s co-main event.

Vieira came into the bout having gone 3-1 over her latest four appearances with victories over former UFC bantamweight champions Miesha Tate (UD), Holly Holm (SD), a defeat to Raquel Pennington (SD), and a win over Pannie Kianzad (UD) in her last outing in July of 2023.

Harrison on the other hand just won her UFC debut earlier this year in April with her dominant victory over Holly Holm (rear naked choke) at UFC 300.

Continue reading to see how this bantamweight title eliminator went down:

Official Result: Kayla Harrison def. Ketlen Vieira via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

Harrison shot in on her first takedown attempt a couple minutes into the opening round, unable to secure it after pushing Vieira into the fence. The two separated and Harrison soon after secured a takedown, passing over into mount and reigning down ground and pound

After struggling to get the fight back down to the mat in the second, Harrison finally secured another takedown about two minutes into the third and final round, again passing over into mount and dominating Vieira through the remainder of the fight.

Kayla Harrison improves to 2-0 inside the octagon tonight at UFC 307, and she’ll be next to challenge tonight’s co-main event winner for the title in her next appearance.

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Brady Ordway

I became a fan of combat sports when I was 12 years old. I was scrolling through the channels and landed upon Versus, where WEC was televised. Urijah Faber fought Jens Pulver for the second time that night. That's the first fight I ever saw, and I was immediately hooked. So eventually, I began covering the sport in the fourth quarter of 2018, and have since started writing about animals as well. If you'd like to see those pieces, be sure to check out learnaboutnature.com!

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