Kayla Harrison is ready for a shot at the UFC womenâs bantamweight title. But UFC womenâs bantamweight champion Julianna Pena may not be ready for her.
Thatâs the message weâre hearing from Harrisonâs agent Ali Abdelaziz, who suggested the UFC is on the verge of announcing an interim title shot for Kayla if Julianna isnât able to compete soon.
âThis is what I have been told,â Abdelaziz told MMA Junkie. âJulianna Pena, if sheâs not ready to fight Kayla â she might have some health problems â itâs going to be an interim title. One hundred percent this is whatâs going to happen. The UFC is just not going to hold the division because someone doesnât want to fight or is injured.â
We havenât heard much from Pena since she defeated Raquel Pennington via an unimpressive split decision at UFC 307 back in October. Following that fight she called out retired former champ Amanda Nunes rather than Kayla Harrison, and then dropped off the face of the earth. Is she injured? Does she not want to fight Harrison, who is being given the âpotential superstarâ treatment from UFC brass?
Whatever the case, Abdelaziz wants to see movement in the division and he says the UFC is of the same mind.
âI donât think any division should be held because someone is injured,â he said. âIf you as the champion defend your title a lot, I think you get this courtesy. But if you just became the champion and want to take a year off, I donât think you should get this courtesy.â
Womenâs bantamweight is looking pretty thin these days, to the point where Abdelaziz believes Raquel Pennington would be Harrisonâs opponent in an interim title fight.
âThis is what she deserves,â Abdelaziz said before adding, âIâm not the matchmakers. Thereâs a guy from Houston, Texas, named Mick Maynard who does that, and itâs his job.â
Pennington doesnât sound like much of a challenge, but letâs be real here: every fight that Harrison has at 135 is a hard fight, because sheâs literally destroying her body to make that weight.
Pena is still champ? Who knew?
Ridiculous Harrison hasnât been given a title shot yet when she is the clear best WMMA fighter on the planet right now besides maybe Cyborg. WTF is UFC waiting for? There are hardly any interesting WMMA fighters people wanna see besides Kayla and 5 others maybe.
They should give Pena six months to prepare and headline the Jones fight
This is the right move. Fighters only have so much time and Kayla is clearly the best WMMA fighter on the planet.
Fuck Jon.
I wish they would let me next door so I could spit in his fucking face.
Would probably go something like thisâŚ