New UFC signing Kayla Harrison says she would ‘mess up’ Israel Adesanya

A bold claim from the new UFC recruit

Harrison was unveiled by Dana White as the latest name to join the UFC family and will feature on the UFC300 card against Holly Holm in Las Vegas, Nevada on April 13.

As a former PFL champion and two-time Judo gold medalist at the Olympics, the 33-year-old once even suggested that she would be able to take down former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya.

Speaking after one of her fights, in whicnh she said: "Scientists, you kept talking about scientists, scientists at City Kickboxing...Izzy couldn't stop my takedowns! Listen! Everyone keeps saying, oh how do you solve the Kayla Harrison puzzle, how do you beat her… Spoiler alert! There's no fricking puzzle, I put you on your back and I mess you up. I told you one by one, they're all gonna fall..."

Although she will be fighting at bantamweight level for the first time in her career, Harrison says she isn't fazed by the challenge.

“I mean, 135 will challenge me in ways, like I’m going to have to lose a piece of me to be able to fight at 135 pounds,” she said last November.

“I think just structurally, I carry a lot of muscle. I’m already kind of lean, so I’m going to have to lose muscle. I’m going to have to change my entire lifestyle. I mean, I have already done that to fight at 145.

“It’s crazy what happens when you take care of your body and eat properly and sleep and recover. I was a knucklehead when I was younger. But I have faith whatever is meant to be, will be.”

Charles Oliveira, Aljamain Sterling and Cody Garbrandt will also feature on the card while Zhang Weili and Yan Xiaonan will face off in a huge UFC women’s strawweight title bout.

Justin Gaethje and Max Holloway will also square off for the BMF title.

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