5 Things You Might Not Know About Kayla Harrison

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Kayla Harrison (3-0) is an unbeaten mixed martial artist currently signed to the Professional Fighters League.

Here are five things that you might not know about former judoka and current American Top Team member.

She started training at a young age.

The Middletown, Ohio, native was only 6 years old when her judo black belt mother introduced her to the sport. The youngster developed into an able and highly-competitive athlete. By the age of 15, she had two junior national championships to her name.

She is a two-time Olympic gold medalist.

Going into the 2012 Olympics in London, Harrison was seen as the favorite in the 78-kg weight class. This was due to her sustained success leading up to the tournament. Her accomplishments included two first-place finishes at the Pan American Games and a gold medal at the 2010 World Judo Championships.

Harrison dominated all four of her opponents en route to becoming the first-ever American to win a gold medal in Olympic judo. Four years later in Rio de Janeiro, Harrison successfully defended her title.

She was a training partner of Ronda Rousey.

Due to the fact that Harrison came from a judo background, it’s not surprising that she has frequently been compared to former Ultimate Fighting Championship champion and current WWE star Ronda Rousey.

In the lead-up to the 2008 Olympic Games, Harrison acted as a training partner for Rousey. Today, Harrison has fond memories of her time with “Rowdy.” According to her, the elder judoka summed up their relationship with the term “frenemies,” which referred to how they were friends, but enemies on the mat.

Harrison took a keen interest in her former training partner’s mixed martial arts career and claims that she has learned lessons from it. Harrison told Sporting News, “I think something Ronda didn’t do was use her striking to help her get into position to where she wanted to be.”

She suffered abuse in her youth.

Tragically for Harrison, her successful junior judo days were soured by abuse that she was subjected when she was 13. This was at the hands of her then coach, Daniel Doyle. When her mother was informed about it by one of her daughter’s fellow judokas, she went to the police. The abuse culminated in the once respected coach being sentenced to 10 years in prison. In the aftermath of her 2012 success, a reporter asked the freshly-crowned Olympian what the worst moment of her career was. Harrison replied, “It’s no secret that I was sexually abused by my former coach. That was definitely the hardest thing I’ve ever had to overcome.”

She does not believe in cutting weight.

To date, Harrison has been fighting at lightweight. Although this is seven kilograms lighter than during her stint in judo, she tends to walk around at about 160-lbs and the weight cut is minimal. This suits the prospect, as she is no fan of the practice. She stated in an appearance on The MMA Hour, “I don’t believe in cutting weight. I think it’s terrible for your body.”

Despite this, she has not ruled out moving down a division because she wants to face the best that the sport has to offer. She previously declared an interest in challenging Cristane Justino, who competes at featherweight.