Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Kayla Harrison Says She Was Hospitalized, Peed Blood Week Before UFC 307 Fight

Doric Sam

Kayla Harrison defeated Ketlen Vieira at UFC 307 on Saturday for her second win since joining the company, but she dealt with a harrowing medical situation leading up to the fight.

"You know, I don't like to make excuses. I had to go to the hospital the week before I was like peeing blood and there was some stuff going on," Harrison told TMZ Sports on Monday.

Harrison wasn't as dominant against Vieira as she usually is, but she still earned a unanimous decision to improve to 18-1. She also suffered a cut for the first time in her professional MMA career.

"I'm still learning. I'm still growing. I feel like there's a lot of room for improvement for me. It definitely wasn't my best night in the cage," she said.

Prior to joining the UFC, Harrison competed in the PFL and fought the majority of her fights at lightweight (155 pounds). Despite her well-documented resistance to moving down weight classes for quite some time, she joined the bantamweight division upon signing with the UFC in January.

Harrison has shown no problems making the 136-pound weight limit in her two UFC fights, the revelation of her recent medical issues on Monday could be a cause for concern.

Still, Harrison is forging ahead with her goal to become UFC champion. She's hoping to challenge Julianna Pena, who defeated Raquel Pennington to win the bantamweight title in the co-main event of UFC 307. Pena called out retired former titleholder Amanda Nunes after her win, but Harrison said she'd welcome fights against both of them.

"I want both. Can I not have both?" she said. "I want to win the title, give Amanda time to get back in shape and train. She can be training for me that whole time. I'll go f--k up Julianna real quick, and then Amanda and I can fight."

   

Read 0 Comments

Download the app for comments Get the B/R app to join the conversation

Install the App
×
Bleacher Report
(120K+)