Kayla Harrison Believes She Could Beat Khabib In Judo Match
PFL women’s lightweight Kayla Harrison is under no illusions that she would lose to the top male fighters in her weight class. However, she believes she could take them on in a judo match.
When former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey was in the midst of her rise, her hype had gotten out of control.
It reached the point where she claimed she could beat heavyweight Cain Velasquez while others, like Joe Rogan, believed “Rowdy” could beat 50 percent of the male bantamweights in a fight.
All that now seems silly given Rousey’s last two outings in the UFC and Harrison isn’t one to make those same mistakes.
The two-time Olympic gold medal winning judoka recently made the transition to MMA and is currently 3-0, having yet to face any challenges so far. She will face Larissa Pacheco in the main event of PFL’s second season premiere on Thursday.
However, she acknowledges that despite her dominance, she wouldn’t be able to beat the best male fighters at 155 pounds.
“I would be the best in the world,” Harrison told TMZ recently. “If you gave me the body that had the capabilities to do what men do, I would be the best in the world. I truly believe that.
“In my body right now, could I beat a guy that’s my size? I mean maybe if he was a journeyman or something. I’m not going to say ‘oh yeah, I can beat Frankie Edgar.’ No, I’m not an idiot. I know I couldn’t. You think I’m going to beat Khabib?”
A Judo Match?
She then offered one way she could beat Nurmagomedov.
“I mean I think I would beat him in a judo match for sure. 100 percent. I would beat Khabib.”
TMZ also spoke to manager Ali Abdelaziz who manages both Nurmagomedov and Harrison, who joked that such a judo match could be booked on a pay-per-view.
In customary Abdelaziz fashion, he also took a dig at Conor McGregor by saying Harrison would “100 percent” give Nurmagomedov a much tougher test.
