Kayla Harrison — two-time Olympic gold medalist — cemented her dominance at UFC 316 (Sat., June 7, 2025), dismantling former two-time Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Bantamweight champion, Julianna Pena, with a second-round kimura to claim the title inside Newark’s Prudential Center (watch highlights).
But, the real battle happened long before the cage door closed.
Harrison’s weight cut has been the talk of the mixed martial arts (MMA) world since she joined UFC. While she’s hit the mark every time, UFC 316 demanded championship weight: a grueling 135 pounds (not 136). At Friday’s early weigh-ins, Harrison looked incredibly sucked up, but today, photos of her harrowing cut surfaced … and they are terrifying.
Check it below:
Before and after making the weight, she initially dodged details of her crazy weight cut, crediting divine intervention with a coy, “I didn’t make weight — God did.”
But, today (Mon., June 9, 2025) in an interview with Ariel Helwani, Harrison revealed the punishing reality of her 15-week fight camp.
Unbelievable. Kayla Harrison breaks down her brutal weight cut in order to make championship weight at 135lbs:
“It’s not good… I don’t know really how else to explain it. I don’t think that anyone can really understand that process unless they have gone through it.
For 15… pic.twitter.com/CgXCfbjQ2a
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) June 9, 2025
“It’s not good,” Harrison told Helwani. “I don’t know how else to explain it. I don’t think anyone can truly understand that process unless they’ve gone through it. I’ve said it a lot this past week, but it’s the truth: I’m not mentally strong enough to do that — God did that. I wanted to quit. I didn’t want to be there anymore.
“For 15 weeks, I’m on a diet,” Harrison continued. “I only eat what my chef, Dara, gives me. If I get really crazy urges or cravings, I’ll have a spoonful of peanut butter. I think I did that three times during the camp. Fourteen weeks out, I start walking, so every single day I walk six miles, bike for two hours, or swim for about an hour and a half.vOn Sundays, I usually walk eight miles.”
“That’s on top of the two other training sessions I do each day,” Harrison added. “In the morning, I go live, hard — either sparring or grappling. At night, I’m drilling. Then, six weeks out, I start heat acclimation, so three days a week, I’m in the sauna for an hour by myself — usually at night because that’s the only time I have.
“It’s really hard,” Harrison concluded. “I just have to keep telling myself that it’s chosen suffering and that it’ll be worth it.”
Her sacrifice deserves respect.
Weight cutting remains MMA’s dangerous underbelly, and Harrison’s commitment to UFC glory is staggering, because she has competed above Bantamweight for most of her career and at 170 pounds during her Olympic run.
Yet, she admitted that she doesn’t know how much longer her body can allow the brutal weight cuts, but will cross the bridge once she fights former teammate, Amanda Nunes, in a women’s “super” fight.
God willing.
For complete UFC 316 results and play-by-play click here.
