Kayla Harrison Opens Up On UFC 316 Weight Decrease, Submitting Pena, Wrestle W/ Nunes!

Kayla Harrison‘s sittin’ atop the MMA world … and the newly topped ladies’s bantamweight champ is speaking all issues UFC 316 and past — from her insane weight minimize to her subsequent combat vs. Amanda Nunes!

34-year-old Harrison joined Babcock on the “TMZ Sports activities” TV present (airs nightly on FS1) … simply days after she dominated now-former champ Julianna Pena within the co-main occasion, profitable by second-round submission.

We requested her — with a few days to digest the large accomplishment — how she was feelin’?

And whereas chores aren’t anybody’s thought of a good time, her little ones are most essential to Kayla.

“I am so blessed to have [Emery and Kyla]. I believe typically about they’re the true prize. If I had been coming residence with a UFC belt to an empty home, the considered that makes me need to cry. Like I can not even think about my life with out them. And so, yeah, they’re the prize.”

As for the precise combat, Harrison made mild work of Pena … which is tremendous spectacular contemplating how harmful Julianna is inside an Octagon.

“I understand how powerful Juliana is. This lady beat Amanda. I anticipated 25 arduous minutes. I actually mentally ready for that,” Harrison informed us, saying her early success within the combat “felt too good to be true.”

“Even within the first spherical, I felt like I had alternatives to unleash, however I type of informed myself, ‘hear, 25 minutes is a very long time. Let’s tempo ourselves. Let’s be sensible.’ What if she comes out weapons blazing and what if there’s one thing lacking right here?” Kayla mentioned of her mindset Saturday evening.

Then, within the second spherical, the champ says she “type of misplaced monitor of time” earlier than she heard the sign indicating 10 seconds remained … “and I used to be like, ‘f*** it.'”

And, identical to that … Kimura, faucet, and new!

The toughest a part of the entire combat week was the load minimize … the primary time Kayla needed to get right down to 135 (she beforehand needed to clear 136, and that pound makes a helluva distinction).

“I believe it is simply belief and give up and also you gotta have religion as a result of it’d make folks uncomfortable, however there’s simply no means in hell that I can do it on my own. I’m not mentally robust sufficient. My thoughts wished to give up. And my physique was fairly shut. That was all God. That was all God.”

Now, Harrison (after every week of “enjoyable with the children”), will shift her focus to Nunes … in what is going to in the end be the largest combat within the historical past of ladies’s MMA.

“I truly cannot wait to be again within the gymnasium. I’ve no accidents. I really feel good. I believe Amanda has to get again into the drug testing pool. After which I would like her to be ‘The Lioness.’ I need to face the most effective Amanda Nunes ever. So, the balls in her courtroom!”