Kayla Harrison reacts to Julianna Pena calling for a trilogy against Amanda Nunes if she wins at UFC 307… 'She's trying to avoid the inevitable'
09/30/2024 02:43 PM
This coming weekend at UFC 307 in Salt Lake City, Utah, the women’s bantamweight title picture plays out in an unofficial tournament with the winners likely fighting each other next.
Raquel Pennington is set to make the first defense of her UFC women’s bantamweight title in the co-main event this coming Saturday as she takes on the returning Julianna Pena.
Also on the blockbuster card is Kayla Harrison‘s second fight under the UFC banner as she is set to take on Ketlen Vieira in what is likely a title eliminator fight, with some believing she should be fighting for the title instead of Pena.
Kayla Harrison reacts to Julianna Pena’s planned post-fight callout
‘The Venezuelan Vixen’ isn’t short of confidence, and for months now, she has been throwing accusations at Harrison, claiming she is on Performance Enhancing Drugs.
Not only that, but Pena has already stated that if she beats Pennington and reclaims her title, she will call for a trilogy fight against Amanda Nunes, labeling it as the biggest fight in women’s UFC history.
However, if Harrison picks up a win over the Brazilian contender, Vieira, she will undoubtedly secure herself a title shot, regardless of Pena’s hopes for a trilogy.
“Of course I am (a bigger fight for legacy), yeah, I think that if Julianna wins this fight against Raquel, she’s probably gonna try and be inactive and push to have Amanda come back and so it’s like, she’s trying to avoid the inevitable, I wouldn’t wanna fight me either, I get it,” Harrison told ShakMMA.
“She’s calling out Amanda, she’s saying I’m on steroids… Julianna doesn’t have a win over someone in the top 15 right now… What has she been doing, she’s had two years off, coming off a loss now she’s gonna get her fight for the title, she’s been blessed with this gift and then she’s gonna run around, her time is coming,” Harrison added.
Kayla Harrison will be the official backup for UFC 307 co-main event
Despite the fact that Harrison is scheduled to fight Vieira on the same night, the 34-year-old has revealed that she will be the official backup for the title fight in case one of the fighters misses weight or withdraws over fight week.
With that, ‘Rocky’ Pennington claimed in an interview with MMAJunkie recently that she has tailored her fight camp to prepare for both Pena and Harrison because of Pena’s ‘history of getting injured’.
Pena missed out on her desired trilogy against ‘The Lioness’ back in June last year after injuring her shoulder and there have been two previous occasions during Pena’s UFC tenure that she has withdrawn from a fight because of injury.
