By Two-time Olympic gold medal winner and two-time Professional Fighters League Lightweight Champion Kayla Harrison has announced her decision to continue her work with the organization which allows her to earn the most money for the least strenuous work under the eye of management who showed her the most respect, baffling many in the mixed martial arts community. Despite the opportunity to take a pay cut to work for an organization run by a man who vehemently refused to enter women’s MMA until there was a dominant champion he found suitably attractive, while competing in a division with an unclear plan or future and where the only marquee fight was with friend and former-teammate Amanda Nunes, Harrison declined to sign with the UFC.
She has instead opted to pursue a more lucrative offer in an organization for which she has happily fought since 2018 on a contract she describes as unprecedented for its clauses which treat her like an actual professional athlete in a major sport. Fans upset with the missed opportunity to see two of the most dominant fighters of all time face off criticized Harrison as a soft loser who, were she a real fighter, would have followed the genius financial planning of Colby Covington and turned down money-making clauses to totally own her rivals and prove a point to the internet.
