Kayla Harrison is upset about Julianna Peña’s accusations of using performance-enhancing drugs, but she also takes it as a compliment.
Peña is expected to challenge Raquel Pennington for the women’s bantamweight title at UFC 307 in Salt Lake City, Utah in October, while Harrison, who made her promotional debut with a submission victory over Holly Holm at UFC 300 in April of this year, is considered the favorite to get the next title shot.
Peña recently hurled accusations of PED use at Harrison and all of the female fighters at the former PFL champion’s gym, American Top Team. While the PED allegations are nothing new for Harrison, they are nothing short of infuriating for the Olympic gold medalist judoka. Harrison claims she first took a drug test at age 12 and has never failed one since. Harrison claims Peña’s accusations are just an excuse for her to beat Peña in a potential future matchup against the “Empress of Venezuela.”
UFC 304: Edwards vs. Muhammad airs Saturday at 10pm ET on ESPN+. Order your copy now! “It’s unbelievable… I’m pissed. First of all, I’m pissed because in my long drug-testing career, I’ve never had a positive test,” Harrison said on “The MMA Hour.”
“And number two, if you don’t have solid evidence, don’t say it. This is a serious thing to me. I take cheating very seriously. And I’ve always fought clean fights. I hold myself to a high standard, and I know I haven’t always fought clean opponents, but I’m not going to criticize an opponent just because I think they’re not clean. That’s bullshit. I think it’s bullshit because she’s just setting up an excuse for me to beat her. So I’m upset about it, but at the same time, what a compliment. I’m 100 percent natural and people think I’m on steroids.”
Peña also called out Harrison for not attending an anti-doping “event” during last month’s International Fight Week. Harrison explained why she was exempt from attending what she called a “ridiculous infomercial.” Harrison likely didn’t consider the testing that important in the first place, as she had been tested consistently throughout her career, sometimes too frequently. Harrison further claimed she was approached by UFC for other business related to being the face of the division.
“I was drug tested four times in one month. [at one
point]”…And that’s also why I didn’t watch any of those stupid infomercials about drug testing,” Harrison said. “Unlike her, I actually have a fanbase. So I had to do what UFC asked me to do. So it’s hard to be the new face of the weight class, the It girl. So I didn’t go and watch any of those stupid infomercials about drug testing.” [drug testing info
commercial]… We told them [the UFC]they knew. There was something like a schedule… [that]…”
