Kayla Harrison has fired back at former UFC bantamweight champion Julianna Pena over accusations of using performance-enhancing drugs.
Harrison made her UFC debut at UFC 300, where she put the bantamweight division on notice with a convincing victory against former champ Holly Holm. The win has put the two-time Olympic gold medalist in pole position to either fight for the belt or secure a title eliminator with a top contender, like Pena, who is very clear sure about her potential foe being on secret juice.
During Monday’s episode of The MMA Hour, Pena asserted that Harrison has a history of using banned substances to gain an edge in fights.
“Great, strong [on the scale at UFC 300]. Stay off the needle, bro,” Pena said of Harrison. “Maybe not now, but definitely in the past, absolutely, there’s no question…at International Fight Week, we all came inside the rooms for the social media scrum [for fighters]. Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, all these guys to teach us everything we need to learn about…we broke for lunch, the next one after that was the anti-doping [scrum]. Everyone was there…everyone showed for the second one minus Kayla [Harrison]. She’s the only one that didn’t go to the anti-doping one…
“How convenient that she wasn’t…I just already have the mindset that people are cheating, that everyone’s cheating. Especially from [American Top Team], 100 percent. When Dan Lambert flew me out there, and I went to train for a week after I won The Ultimate Fighter, they literally told me all the girls were in the back, shooting each other in the ass with steroids…so I’ve always thought that about [American Top Team], and no one’s ever gonna change my mind.”
Harrison hit back at Pena’s allegations through X.
“I have been tested by USADA since I was 12 years old,” Harrison retorted. “You will find every excuse in the world not to fight me. And the only shot in the ass people need around u is anti-nausea medication.”
What do you make of these comments?
