Kayla Harrison On UFC 316 Weight Cut: ‘I Wanted To Quit'

Forbes

08-06-2025

The way Kayla Harrison told it, there almost wasn't a women's bantamweight title fight between herself and Julianna Pena last night at UFC 316.
'I'll tell you what, on Thursday night, I wanted to quit,' Harrison told UFC commentator Joe Rogan during her in-cage post-fight interview. 'I wanted to give up, but there's a small voice inside of you that will tell you 'don't give up.' So, don't give up.'
Rogan later asked Harrison if she was referring to her weight cut to make 135 pounds for the first time in her professional career.
'Only God can get that last pound off me,' said Harrison. 'I can't do it. I'm not strong enough. It's too hard. You gotta go to a bad place, and the only way through is to surrender and have faith.'
Harrison looked rough when she hit the 135-pound limit on Friday morning at the Regency Hotel in Newark. Her cheeks were sunken, her eyes hollow, and her body looked stripped of every ounce of fat and excess water.
By the time the ceremonial weigh-ins took place later that night at the Prudential Center, Harrison looked much better, having had a few hours to rehydrate.
By the time fight night rolled around, Harrison had filled out and appeared to have rehydrated to a weight that would allow her to perform close to the best of her abilities.
Harrison has been a high-level athlete for a long while. A gold-medal winner in judo at the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games at -78 kg (172 pounds), Harrison spent the first four years of her MMA career competing at 155 pounds, with one fight at 145 and one bout at 150. When the former PFL lightweight champ signed with the UFC, there were some concerns about how she would deal with the bantamweight limit.
In her first two UFC bouts, Harrison checked in at 136. As those fights were not for UFC gold, Harrison and her opponents in those contests, where Harrison picked up wins over Holly Holm (UFC 300) and Ketlen Vieira (UFC 307), were given the luxury of a one-pound allowance.
Harrison earned a relatively easy submission win over the overmatched Pena to capture the UFC women's bantamweight title. She limited Pena to nine landed significant strikes on 37 attempts while forcing Pena to fight from her back foot for nearly the entire fight. Pena's fear of the grappling game of her opponent left her on defense.
Those fears were warranted because Harrison, who went two-for-three on takedowns, had no trouble controlling Pena on the mat, eventually forcing her to submit with five seconds left in the third round after she applied a kimura that looked like it would surely break Pena's arm if she had not tapped.
The big news came in the aftermath of the win when former two-division UFC champ (bantamweight and featherweight) Amanda Nunes announced she was coming out of retirement to face Harrison for the title.
Nunes retired in June 2023 after defending the 135-pound title with a win over Irene Aldana to care for her growing family. With her children being a little older and things around the household more calm, the 37-year-old entered the Octagon on Saturday night to let everyone know that she would face Harrison in the future.
The main card for UFC 316 streamed on ESPN+ pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on ESPN and UFC Fight Pass.
With her win over Julianna Pena at UFC 316, Harrison moved to 19-1 overall and 3-0 in the UFC.