Dominance MMA CEO Ali Abdelaziz has provided an update on the future of PFL sensation Kayla Harrison ahead of her second championship fight in the promotion.
Harrison has quickly become one of the most dominant mixed martial artists in the world. After becoming a two-time judo Olympic gold medalist, the Ohio native transitioned to MMA in 2018. Starting with an armbar submission victory over Brittney Elkin, Harrison has built an unblemished 11-0 record that includes five knockouts and four submissions.
Aside from a sole appearance under the banner of Invicta FC, all of Harrison’s outings in the sport have come in the surging Professional Fighters League promotion. After four victories in 2019, the 31-year-old achieved title glory for the very first time, winning the Women’s Lightweight Championship and a lucrative prize with a five-round win against Larissa Pacheco.
After the 2020 season was canceled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Harrison returned to the PFL cage this year looking for her second championship. Three first-round finishes later, and she finds herself back in a PFL final. After securing her place at next week’s event with a brutal TKO against Genah Fabian, Harrison will have Taylor Guardado in between her and gold on October 27.
While talk of Harrison’s dominance and quest to become a double PFL champion has certainly been prominent ahead of the season finale, rumors surrounding her future in the promotion have also existed. With the American Top Team star’s contract set to expire, many have suggested the undefeated lightweight could be on her way to challenge the dominance of Amanda Nunes in the UFC.
Harrison recently suggested that it would take something special for the PFL to keep her on its roster, be it through a significantly more lucrative contract or more competitive opposition. Despite that, Harrison’s manager Ali Abdelaziz is confident a new deal with her current organization is on the cards.
Speaking during a recent interview with ESPN MMA’s Brett Okamoto, the 43-year-old revealed he’s in regular contact with the PFL higher-ups, and believes an agreement will be figured out soon.
“At the end of the day, she’s a PFL fighter. PFL have been very great to Kayla, and Kayla likes to be in PFL. At the end of the day, I spoke with these guys, Pete [Murray] and Donn [Davis] and Ray [Sefo] on a daily basis. We will figure something out. Number one thing for her right now is to be two-time PFL champion.
“This whole free agency, for me, it doesn’t really matter. Her contract has ended and me and Pete, we talking everyday about it, and we’re gonna try and get something done; maybe now, maybe after the fight. I’m very sure everything will be good.”
Abdelaziz went on to praise Harrison for her rapid rise to the top of the MMA agenda. He even compared the judoka to another of his top clients, former UFC Lightweight Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.
“Listen, credit to Kayla. You never really see a female fighter headlining a card with two, three title fights and she is this valuable to them, and she is this good, and she smash everybody. She always say like, ‘I want to be like Khabib.’ I think she is fighting like Khabib… she’s dominating people, she doesn’t get hit, she doesn’t get punched, she doesn’t get dropped, she doesn’t get taken down, and this reminds us of Khabib.”
Would you rather see Kayla Harrison remain with the PFL or try her hand in another promotion?
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