Kayla Harrison Joins UFC And Will Face Holly Holm At UFC 300

UFC 300 scored a notable fight booking on Tuesday night when UFC CEO Dana White Announced that former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm will face two-time PFL women’s lightweight tournament champion Kayla Harrison at 135 pounds on the April 13 card.

“Holly Holm. She was inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame in 2022. In the history of the women’s bantamweight division (UFC), she is tied for the fourth most wins (seven), (has) the sixth strike most significant (hit) 635, and has the fourth-best takedown defense at 78 percent,” White said.

“Holly Holm is one of the baddest women to ever compete in combat sports! She has fought every baddest woman in the world in boxing and MMA, except one,” White added.

“Holly will face the only person in United States history to win consecutive Olympic gold medals in judo. UFC has officially signed Kayla Harrison.

“Kayla is 16-1 with 12 finishes. Her takedowns, ground and striking are nasty, and this will be her first time competing at bantamweight,” White said.

Harrison, 33, joins the UFC after a 17-fight streak (16-1) in PFL, which began in 2018 and ended with his victory over former UFC fighter Aspen Ladd in November 2023. Harrison won the PFL women’s lightweight tournament. in 2019 and 2021. The only loss of her career came via unanimous decision to Larissa Pacheco in the final fight of the 2022 PFL women’s lightweight tournament.

Holm is the No. 5 fighter in the official UFC women’s bantamweight rankings. The 42-year-old last fought in July 2023, when she lost to recent UFC women’s bantamweight title challenger Mayra Bueno Silva via submission. That fight was later declared a no contest after Bueno Silva failed a drug test related to her ADHD medication. Holm is 15-6-0-1 in her MMA career. She won the UFC women’s bantamweight title in November 2015 with a head kick knockout over Ronda Rousey. Holm lost the title in her first defense, a technical submission setback in March 2016 to Miesha Tate.

Holm vs. Harrison joins the BMF title fight between Justin Gaethje and Max Holloway, Jim Miller against Bobby Green and a title fight between UFC women’s strawweight champion Zhang Weili and the highly ranked Yan Xiaonan. Also announced for UFC 300 were a title remover matchup between Charles Oliveira and Arman Tsarukyan, a fight between former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt and former flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo and the three fights initially announced for UFC 300: Aljamain Sterling vs. Calvin Kattar at featherweight, Jiri Prochazka vs. Aleksandar Rakic ​​at light heavyweight, and Bo Nickal vs. Cody Brundage in a middleweight bout.

The UFC 300 main card airs on ESPN+ pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN2 and early prelims on ESPN+.