'I've been tested by USADA since I was 12 years old'… Kayla Harrison slams Julianna Pena for recent accusation
07/16/2024 06:19 AM
UFC bantamweight contender Kayla Harrison has an ongoing feud with former champion Julianna Pena, but unfortunately, she won’t be fighting her any time soon as Pena is rumored to be fighting for the title next.
Julianna Pena hasn’t fought since July 2022, when she was dominated in a rematch against the greatest female fighter of all time, Amanda Nunes, losing her bantamweight title.
A year after her loss to the ‘Lioness’, the trilogy was booked in what was going to be Nunes’ final fight, however, ‘The Venezuelan Vixen’ withdrew from the bout due to injury.
In that time, the UFC has signed superstar, Kayla Harrison, who made her promotional debut back at UFC 300, utterly brutalizing Holly Holm, instantly putting her in the title talk.
Julianna Pena accuses Kayla Harrison of PED use
Current 135lb champion, Raquel Pennington, is rumored to defend her title against Pena at UFC 307 in October, leaving Harrison needing one more win before she gets her shot at UFC gold.
“These girls have been grinding in the UFC forever, so it’s almost like a respect thing but with that being said, obviously Kayla’s in the mix and she’ll get her chance as well, it’s just a matter of time,” Pena said on The MMA Hour.
Although the 34-year-old admitted that Harrison is in the title mix, she went on to slam the Juodka, accusing her of using PED’s historically.
Harrison has historically competed most at 155lbs and won the PFL lightweight tournament twice during her time with the promotion. And because of that, when she signed with the UFC and announced she’d compete at 135lbs, it came as a big shock to many in the fanbase.
“(She looked) great, strong (on the scale), yeah, stay off the needle, bro. Maybe not now (is she on PEDs), I mean definitely in the past, absolutely, there’s no question,” Pena accused.
The former champion attempted to back up her claim with a story from International Fight Week this past June.
“So, at International Fight Week, we all came inside the rooms for the social media (seminars)… all these guys that are working (on these social media platforms) are here to teach us in this classroom, everything that we need to learn about, so everyone was there.
“We broke for lunch, the next (seminar) was the anti-doping (seminar), so everyone was there, everyone stayed for the first one. When we came back, everyone stayed for the second one, minus Kayla. She’s the only one that didn’t come back to the anti-doping one,” Pena continued.
Kayla Harrison responds to Julianna Pena’s accusation
Pena’s claim can be extremely damaging to Harrison, who has been competing in professional competition since the age of 12.
With that, the world champion Judoka slammed Pena’s claims with a response online.
“I have been tested by USADA since I was 12 years old. You will find every excuse in the world not to fight me. And the only shot in the ass people need around u is anti-nausea medication,” Harrison responded on X.
According to the UFC’s anti-doping database, so far this year, Harrison has submitted seven test sessions, which is the second most behind only Conor McGregor.
Instead of waiting for the culmination of Pennington vs Pena, Harrison is willing to ‘smash another skull’, in the meantime.
