Scott Coker: Bellator "serious" about signing PFL champion Kayla Harrison to set up Cris Cyborg super-fight
- Published
Bellator 271: Cris Cyborg KO's Sinead Kavanagh to retain featherweight championship
Scott Coker says Bellator will pursue the signing of PFL lightweight champion Kayla Harrison.
Harrison, 31, was cageside for Cris Cyborg's successful defence of her featherweight title at Bellator 271, sparking rumours Bellator would be pushing to sign the free agent ahead of the UFC and Professional Fighters League.
Bellator boss Coker was quizzed about his interest in signing Harrison. "I think we're going to start talking to her manager early next week," he said.
"She's an accomplished athlete. She's fought some good competition. I think she's a hard worker. I watched her training six months ago, this girl is a force to be reckoned with.
"I want her to know we will start talking to Ali [Abdelaziz, Harrison's manager] and we are serious.
"We'll do our best to put a deal together and have her come over here so she can fight Cyborg and some of the other girls we have on the roster."
Who else could Harrison sign for?
Harrison has a host of options after winning the PFL's lightweight tournament back-to-back. The PFL's tournament style structure is a massive attraction for fighters with a million dollar prize for the overall winner.
Despite having just 12 pro fights on her record, Harrison has bagged two million-dollar cheques from the PFL. And PFL chiefs have made no secret of the fact they want to re-sign Harrison and Cyborg appears convinced the Olympian will do just that.
Cyborg said: "I don't think she's going to come out of PFL. I think she's going to continue PFL. This is just part of the game."
But Harrison could defend her undefeated record elsewhere, with the UFC another possible destination. There are plenty of intriguing match-ups for Harrison in the UFC, with Amanda Nunes reigning supreme in both the bantamweight and featherweight divisions.
UFC boss Dana White, however, downplayed talk of a switch to the octagon in October.
"If I was her, I'd stay right where she is and keep picking off the people over there," White said. "I would stay there and keep fighting the type of women she's fighting there before I would come here and fight an Amanda Nunes. That's for damn sure."
Harrison has already brushed off White's comments, suggesting the UFC boss was appealing to her ego in an effort to lure her to the UFC. Harrison appears to be keeping her options open.
Who could Cyborg fight next?
Cris Cyborg stopped Sinead Kavanagh in her latest title defence
While it is still possible Bellator could make a big splash by signing Harrison, Cyborg has no shortage of contenders to deal with.
Former UFC title contender Cat Zingano has been waiting patiently for her shot at Cyborg since signing for Bellator in 2019 and Coker admitted he was likely to turn to the 39-year-old as the next woman to take on Cyborg.
"We have a couple of (other) girls in mind. But I think Cat Zingano is definitely one of them," he said.
"You know, we'll decide that as we circle back. We'll start talking to the fight team in the next week, and we'll probably have something.
"We want [Cyborg] to fight again as early as maybe February, March of next year. We want to turn her around as soon as she wants to. We'll have some opponents for her."
Despite a healthy roster, interest around a Harrison-Cyborg super-fight is unlikely to die down. Cyborg is 4-0 in Bellator with four finishes, beating Julia Budd, Arlene Blencowe, Leslie Smith and now Sinead Kavanagh. Bellator will be keen to find a fighter Cyborg can build a long-standing rivalry with. Harrison could be that fighter.
"If she really wants to fight me, she knows where I'm at," Cyborg said after her win.
"[Her manager] can negotiate with Scott Coker to make the fight happen. I have nothing to say. I'm not going to share my shine today. I'm here ready for anyone who wants to fight me, for sure."
Who is Kayla Harrison?
Kayla Harrison won gold at two Olympics
Harrison reached stardom long before she took up MMA. The Ohio-native was unstoppable competing on the judo circuit, winning back-to-back Olympic titles in the -78kg weight category.
She trained alongside former Olympian Ronda Rousey and followed her former training partner into the MMA world, making her pro debut in 2018. Harrison trains at American Top Team, which also happens to house UFC two-weight champion Nunes.
Seven fights into her pro career, Harrison was the PFL lightweight champion and she would repeat the feat in October of this year when she submitted Taylor Guardado in the final of the 2021 PFL lightweight tournament.
Harrison's physicality, grappling skills and judo background has made her a nightmare for opponents, not unlike how Rousey was when she first switched to MMA. With 12 wins and 10 finishes, fight fans are keen to see how Harrison would fare against the likes of Cyborg and Nunes.
PFL chief Don Davis said before Harrison became a free agent that he had offered Bellator the chance to co-promote a super-fight between Cyborg and Harrison.
"Kayla would beat Cyborg today and they know it," he said. "I even told Scott we will put it in your media platform and he was still too scared."
The Nuremberg Trials: The remarkable aftermath of the verdict on the Nazi war criminals
From prison to president: Mohamed Nasheed is fighting for his island
