Kayla Harrison Joins UFC And Will Face Holly Holm At UFC 300

WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 24: Kayla Harrison reacts after her victory against Aspen Ladd during the ... [+] 2023 PFL Championships at The Anthem on November 24, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images)

UFC 300 picked up a notable fight booking on Tuesday night when UFC CEO Dana White announced that former UFC women's bantamweight champion Holly Holm is facing two-time PFL women's lightweight tournament champion Kayla Harrison at 135 pounds on the April 13 fight card.

"Holly Holm. She was inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame in 2022. In the history of the (UFC) women's bantamweight division, she is tied for fourth most wins (seven), (she has the) sixth most significant strikes (landed) 635, and has the fourth-best takedown defense at 78 percent," said White.

"Holly Holm is one the baddest women to ever compete in combat sports, ever! She's fought all the nastiest women in the world in boxing and in MMA, except for one," White added.

"Holly will be taking on the only person in U.S. history to win back-to-back Olympic gold medals in judo. The UFC has officially signed Kayla Harrison.

"Kayla is 16-1 with 12 finishes. Her takedowns, her ground and pound are nasty, and this will be the first time she will be competing at bantamweight," said White.

The 33-year-old Harrison joins the UFC after a 17-fight (16-1) run in PFL, which began in 2018 and ended with her win over former UFC fighter Aspen Ladd in November 2023. Harrison won the PFL women's lightweight tournament in 2019 and 2021. Her only career loss came via unanimous decision to Larissa Pacheco in the final bout of the 2022 PFL women's lightweight tournament.

Holm is the No. 5 ranked fighter in the official UFC women's bantamweight rankings. The 42-year-old last fought in July 2023 when she lost to recent UFC women's bantamweight title challenger Mayra Bueno Silva via submission. That fight was later ruled a no contest after Bueno Silva failed a drug test related to her ADHD medication. Holm is 15-6-0-1 in her MMA career. She won the UFC women's bantamweight title in November 2015 with a head-kick knockout of Ronda Rousey. Holm lost the title in her first defense, a March 2016 technical submission setback to Miesha Tate.

Holm vs. Harrison joins the BMF title fight between Justin Gaethje and Max Holloway, Jim Miller vs. Bobby Green, and a title fight between UFC women’s strawweight champion Zhang Weili and the highly ranked Yan Xiaonan. Also announced for UFC 300 are a title eliminator matchup between Charles Oliveira and Arman Tsarukyan, a scrap between former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt and ex-flyweight titleholder Deiveson Figueiredo and the three initially announced UFC 300 bouts: Aljamain Sterling vs. Calvin Kattar at featherweight, Jiri Prochazka vs. Aleksandar Rakic at light heavyweight, and Bo Nickal vs. Cody Brundage in a middleweight scrap.

The main card of UFC 300 streams on ESPN+ pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN2 and early prelims on ESPN+.