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The UFC 316 co-main event at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. on Saturday features a highly anticipated women’s bantamweight title bout between champion Julianna Pena (12-5) and No. 2 ranked contender Kayla Harrison (18-1).
Harrison is a two-time Olympic gold medalist in Judo. She’s the former two-time Professional Fighters League (PFL) women’s lightweight champion. She cuts a lot of weight to make the 135-pound limit and faded in her last outing in the later rounds. Whoever is able to dictate the pace on Saturday will play a factor in the fight.
“I am fighting at the pace the fight comes at me, so if she comes at me guns-a-blazing, I have no choice but to defend guns-a-blazing. If she wants to try to set a pace, we can do that,” Pena told Fox Sports Australia.
“The great thing about me is that wherever the fight takes place – I can win off my back. I can win off of the cage. I can win on the feet, so I have many more paths to victory than she does and I think that’s what’s going to be the determining factor in this fight for me.”
Harrison only has one blemish on her record. She lost to Larissa Pacheco via unanimous decision at PFL 10 in November 2022. Pena believes Harrison’s 18-1 record was ‘padded’ before she arrived in the UFC.
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“If you look at her beginning record, she’s fighting girls that have really poor records, or no fight experience, or they never fought again after they fought her. I don’t take into consideration too much all of these padded records,” Pena said. “There’s other fights in there, like three five-round decisions against the same girl, and she lost one of those fights. I’m not taking into consideration too much about whole mystic of 18-1.”
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