Washington, DC – November 24: Kayla Harrison reacts after her win against Aspen Ladd ,
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UFC 300 got a notable fight booking Tuesday night with UFC CEO Dana White in attendance announced Former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm faces two-time PFL women’s lightweight tournament champion Kayla Harrison at 135 pounds on the April 13 fight card.
“Holly Holm. She was inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame in 2022. In (UFC) women’s bantamweight division history, she is tied for the fourth-most wins (seven), (she has) the sixth-most significant strikes ( Landings are ) 635, and have the fourth-best takedown defense at 78 percent,” White said.
White said, “Holly Holm is one of the baddest women to ever compete in combat sports! She has fought all the baddest women in the world except one in boxing and MMA.”
“Holly will face the only person in American history to win two consecutive Olympic gold medals in judo. The UFC has officially signed with Kayla Harrison.
White said, “Kayla is 16-1 with 12 finishes. Her takedowns, her ground and pound are wicked and this will be her first time competing at bantamweight.”
Harrison, 33, joins the UFC after a 17-fight (16-1) run in the PFL that began in 2018 and ended with his win over former UFC fighter Aspen Ladd in November 2023. Harrison wins PFL women’s lightweight tournament. In 2019 and 2021. The only loss of her career came by unanimous decision to Larissa Pacheco in the final bout of the 2022 PFL Women’s Lightweight Tournament.
Holm is the No. 5 ranked fighter in the official UFC women’s bantamweight rankings. The 42-year-old last fought in July 2023 when she recently lost to UFC women’s bantamweight title challenger Mayra Bueno Silva via submission. That fight was later pulled from the contest after Bueno Silva failed a drug test related to his ADHD medication. Holm is 15-6-0-1 in her MMA career. She won the UFC women’s bantamweight title with a head-kick knockout of Ronda Rousey in November 2015. Holm lost the title in her first defense via technical submission to Miesha Tate in March 2016.
Holm vs. Harrison joins the BMF title fight between Justin Gaethje and Max Holloway, Jim Miller vs. Bobby Green, and a title fight between UFC women’s strawweight champion Zhang Weili and the highly ranked Yan Xiaonan. Also announced for UFC 300 is a title eliminator matchup between Charles Oliveira and Arman Zarukyan, a scrap between former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt and ex-flyweight titleholder Deiveson Figueiredo and the three initially announced UFC 300 bouts: Aljamain Sterling vs. Kelvin Kattar at featherweight, Jiri Prochazka vs. Alexander Rakic at light heavyweight, and Bo Nickal vs. Cody Brundage in a middleweight scrap.
The UFC 300 main card streams on ESPN+ pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN2 and early prelims on ESPN+.
