Kayla Harrison on Cris Cyborg – “I think that I will beat the sh*t out of her”
While it very likely is one of the most anticipated women’s mixed martial arts fights of all time, we probably won’t see Kayla Harrison face Cris Cyborg in her next fight.
Harrison, who dominated Aspen Ladd en route to victory on Friday night at the 2023 PFL World Championship, later called Cyborg out for a future matchup.
Cyborg, the current Bellator MMA women’s featherweight champion, will eventually compete under the PFL banner now that the two powerhouse promotions have merged.
PFL founder Donn Davis said that despite Harrison wanting a piece of Cyborg, a matchup between PFL champion Larissa Pacheco and the reigning Bellator champ will happen first.
“It’s champ versus champ,” Davis confirmed at the PFL post-fight press conference. “Larissa’s earned thatm but then will Cris fight Kayla in 2024? One-hundred percent, that is going to happen. Cris will have two fights in 2024. Kayla will have two fights in 2024. One of those will be Cris against Kayla, but we think that Larissa’s earned that.
“Once again, you have to give them champ versus champ. Cris is the champ of Bellator, Larissa’s the champ here, so you’ve got see that fight happen first, and then coming out of that, you’ll see Cris Cyborg against Kayla Harrison as the next fight in 2024.”
If the Cyborg fight does come together however, Harrison is confident about how things will play out.
“I think it would be a great fight,” Harrison said while speaking with MMA Junkie. “She’s one of the best to ever compete in this sport for a reason. She’s a top dog, she’s a grinder, she’s tenacious, she goes out there and puts it on girls. I aspire to be like that as well. I go out there and try to be dominant and try to implement my gameplan to the best of my ability.
“So, I think it would be a great fight, and I think that I will beat the sh*t out of her.”
