Donn Davis continues to express his frustration towards Kayla Harrison’s departure from PFL.
Harrison (17-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) signed with the UFC in early 2024, and made big waves in her octagon debut. She dominated Holly Holm en route to a Round 2 submission in the promotion’s historic UFC 300 event in April.
The PFL CEO wanted to see Harrison stick around to try and avenge her setback to Larissa Pacheco, who handed her the first loss of her career. Harrison had already beaten Pacheco twice before.
After PFL acquired Bellator, Davis was also excited at the possibility of matching Harrison up with Bellator champion Cris Cyborg, but Harrison opted to sign with the UFC.
“We brought Kayla into MMA from the Olympics, developed her into an 18-1 star, two-time champion, and one of the greatest women, top five in the sport today,” Davis told MMA Today. “(I have) nothing but pride for that and nothing but respect for Kayla as a competitor. To build the company, I want every great fighter here.
“I’m disappointed that we couldn’t keep Kayla here for, what I think, are the two biggest fights of her legacy and her career: avenging Pacheco and winning the championship, and beating Cyborg, who is the greatest ever. I think those are the two toughest fights ahead of Kayla. I don’t like that she ran from those. I don’t like that she ran to a brand to validate herself. I think so highly of Kayla Harrison. She doesn’t need a brand to validate her. She’s that great. .. So that disappointed me.”
Harrison will look to emerge as No. 1 contender at bantamweight when she takes on Ketlen Vieira (14-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) on Saturday’s UFC 307 (pay-per-view, ESPNews, ESPN+) main card at Delta Center in Salt Lake City.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 307.
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