Kayla Harrison is returning to the Octagon for UFC 307, however, it is not without a little turbulence. The unrest is not really from her opponent or even the UFC but from PFL. Why is that? Because she had quite a history with the other promotion and the departure was not so pleasant. Harrison’s former boss insinuated the same and decided to accuse her of running from fights in PFL.

Ahead of her fight at UFC 307, let’s go down to the past and see what happened between Harrison and PFL.

Why did Kayla Harrison leave PFL?

Dana White and the UFC women’s bantamweight division welcomed Kayla Harrison through UFC 300, and she has left quite an impression ever since. The 17-1-0 fighter has been riding high with her win against Holly Holm from her UFC debut fight and now she has the chance to prove herself again. Nonetheless, this comes with its challenges and snags.

Before she moved to UFC, ‘Doug’ was a massive star in PFL and since she was already doing amazing at the promotion, there were many questions raised when she decided to come to UFC. The PFL’s most well-known fighter and two-time champion in the same promotion was all set to take on former UFC star Cris Cyborg. However, the two-time Olympic gold medalist took a complete u-turn and decided to make a move to UFC.

Harrison, like any other athlete, wanted to test her limits and compete in the 135 lbs division and PFL did not have any accolades in the same. This simple reason made her change to UFC. However, this was not the only rationale for her to leave PFL.

Harrison was feeling defeated and left PFL

Kayla Harrison faced her first loss at the hands of Larissa Pacheco in the 2022 finals. This was her first defeat in the 16 professional MMA bouts. She had also cleared previously that she had only two fights left in her PFL contract and was desperate to get back up from her first loss. The loss had hit her pretty hard but she wanted to avenge herself in 2023. Interestingly, PFL had other plans and wanted her to fight in pay per view and she felt like she was missing out on the big season. She had also beaten Pacheco twice before, so getting that one back may not have been a top priority either.

In her interview with ‘The MMA Hour,’ she said, “I’ve been a little bit depressed about it. It’s hard to watch something you helped build. No matter how awakened and peaceful I am, the world is still moving forward and I’m sitting right here. Sometimes that’s hard. I want to fight, I don’t just want to talk about fighting. I want to fight, so it’s frustrating.” 

Fortunately, she proved herself against Holly Holm and is now a part of UFC and acing her career again. However, now her past is haunting her of sorts because the PFL CEO has called her out.

What did the PFL boss say to Kayla Harrison?

After accomplishing all she could in her PFL career, Harrison decided to join the UFC. The lightweight star was still not exempted from harsh words from the PFL CEO. Donn Davis decided to accuse her of running away from fights. “We brought Kayla Harrison 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. 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,” Davis told MMA Today.

He expressed his disappointment that he could not keep Kayla Harrison at PFL and said that she ‘ran from the toughest fights of her career’ – against Pacheco and Cris Cyborg.  Harrison is not someone who stays quiet and decided to reply to this comment. She stated that her goal was always to come into UFC. And she admitted that she was living her best life’ at the moment.

She also spoke to Ariel Helwani and said, “I tried to fight Cyborg several times. I’m not going to bet my career on Cyborg saying yes to me. I don’t need Cyborg anymore. I’m going to go on, I’m going to be great, I’m going to go win the UFC title, I’m going to lure Amanda (Nunes) back, I’m going to beat the sh*t out of Amanda, and then I’m going to be the greatest of all time.”

So ‘Doug’ has moved on and is not looking back anymore. Do you think Kayla Harrison can get her second win at UFC against Ketlen Vieira at UFC 307?