Cris Cyborg questions whether Kayla Harrison made a mistake moving to bantamweight
Kayla Harrison has found tremendous success at women's bantamweight, but Cris Cyborg wonders if the move amounts only to short-term glory.
Both Cris Cyborg and Kayla Harrison know a thing or two about weight-cutting, however, the true concern is that only Harrison has ever cut to 135 pounds. Cyborg never dared drop to a division that light, and she has now expressed her worry that Harrison, even as the UFC women's bantamweight champion, may have shortened her lifespan as a fighter.
Cris Cyborg wonders how many fighting days Kayla Harrison has left
Well before both women had signed with the UFC, the biggest question was which division they'd fight in. At the time, Cris Cyborg was chasing a dream fight with fellow WMMA legend Ronda Rousey. Unfortunately, both the UFC brass and Rousey were adamant that the fight had to take place at 135 pounds. Cyborg, a career women's featherweight, simply could not make the weight, having struggled significantly to make even a 140-pound catchweight for a bout with Lina Länsberg at UFC Fight Night 95, which she won via second-round TKO. She was in tears during her weight cut, a brutal ordeal that almost left her hospitalized.
So, it's reasonable that she is now raising questions about Harrison, who spent most of her career as a women's lightweight fighter, yet is currently fighting in the UFC women's bantamweight division as its reigning champion. Though Cyborg erroneously mentions Harrison fighting at women's featherweight, which she did back in Invicta FC, instead of her more recent 155-pound run in the PFL.
"Do you thtink @KaylaH would have had a longer MMA career if she kept fighting at 145? Did making bantamweight take years off her athletic career?"
It's a good question, especially when Harrison herself has claimed that, unless the UFC reopens the women's featherweight division, she is done fighting after her upcoming UFC women's bantamweight title defense at UFC 334, where she faces returning two-division champion Amanda Nunes. It's a telling decision on her part, as the bout with Nunes will mark Harrison's fourth at 135 pounds.
It's likely she would have enjoyed a much longer career without any health risks related to weight-cutting had she stuck to the heavier weight classes in WMMA, but that would have meant no run in the UFC, where the only women's divisions remaining are bantamweight, flyweight, and strawweight.
