The Most Highly Anticipated UFC Debuts

Kayla Harrison shocked the MMA world this month when it was announced that she would jump from the PFL to the UFC. This signals another time that Dana White has managed to attract a top star from a rival promotion to work with him.

Harrison Comes from Direct Competition

The signing of Kayla Harrison couldn’t come at a better time for the UFC. She’s fought the entirety of her MMA career since 2018 with the PFL. She won the lightweight title in 2019 and 2021, amassing an imposing 16-1 record. Given that the PFL was surging in popularity and stature, acquiring Bellator and getting excessive funding from Saudi Arabia…it was a massive reality check that Harrison still wanted to fight for the UFC instead. All MMA fans will eagerly await her first fight in the UFC.

Lesnar at UFC 81

Brock Lesnar is one of the biggest names in UFC and WWE history. After he left the professional wrestling scene (for the first time) after Wrestlemania XX, there was uncertainty about what he would do. After a very unsuccessful stint with the Minnesota Vikings in the NFL, he was again out of a job. He then decided to try MMA. After winning his first fight on a K-1 card with a first-round KO, the UFC decided there was enough potential to sign him up.

Yet jumping from K-1 to the UFC is a giant leap in quality, especially as he was lined up to fight former heavyweight champion Frank Mir. Millions of viewers tuned in to see whether Lesnar would succeed in MMA or if he’d try to F5 Mir after the opening bell. While Lesnar lost that fight, he soon succeeded in the promotion, winning the heavyweight championship in 2008.

The Ceiling-Breaking Arrival of Rousey

For years, the UFC had ruled never to have women’s MMA as part of their product. Dana White famously told TMZ in 2011 that he would: ‘never sign a woman to a UFC contract.’ That all changed in 2013 when a woman called Ronda Rousey tore through the Strikeforce division, and MMA fans demanded that the UFC give women the same opportunities. Given Rousey’s dominance, there was a real market for it, validated by MMA news sites that called for her to be installed on the UFC main roster.

The broader implication was that if female fighters were given a bigger stage to fight on, the division would only increase in quality. Rousey made her UFC debut on the UFC 157 card when she defeated Liz Carmouche in the main event. Since then, women’s MMA has gone from strength to strength.

While Rousey’s MMA career fizzled out with a series of bad losses, she was still imperative to the success of the female fight division. Arguably, despite those quick defeats to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes, Rousey still forged an unforgettable career in the UFC and beyond. She participated in the WWE for multiple years and is now with Ring of Honor, yet she is rumored to be coming back at UFC 300. Any future UFC fight for Rousey would be as highly anticipated as her debut.

The Exciting Finishes of O’Malley

Every so often, a fighter seems to get what MMA fans want. Sean O’Malley was just that before debuting on the UFC main roster. Out of his first seven fights, six of them had been finish victories. This led him to be invited to take part in Dana White’s and the Ultimate Fighter cards. After winning both fights at that level, the colorful character was penned in for a UFC primary roster fight at UFC 222. Since then, he’s become one of the most popular fighters on the roster, consistently making MMA breaking news, winning the bantamweight championship with the Performance of the Year.

Holm Emerges from Boxing Stardom

Holly Holm didn’t need to fight in the UFC. She had won numerous fights and championships across her combat career, spanning boxing and kickboxing. By 2013, she had won multiple boxing titles, which had enthused boxing news sites about her career prospects. She participated in three combat areas until 2013, after which she was fully invested in MMA. After going 7-0, with one of her fights in Bellator, the UFC offered Holm a fight at UFC 184, a card headlined by Ronda Rousey.

Holm accepted the offer and faced off against Raquel Pennington in the co-main, in a hotly anticipated debut defining whether a fighter from another discipline could succeed at the highest level and if Rousey would have any credible competition shortly. Holm won the fight, however, only after all three rounds, while Rousey won the main event in 14 seconds. However, in two fights, Holm went on to defeat Rousey.

White Would Prefer to Find His Stars

While the instance of Kayla Harrison is an example of the UFC poaching a MMA superstar from another company, on the whole, Dana White prefers to find his fighters before they are famous. That’s validated by the countless programs he’s run, like Dana White’s Contender Series, Road to UFC, and The Ultimate Fighter, which have all focused on contestants trying to find new MMA participants for the UFC main roster. In addition, he also has numerous scouts working vigorously in MMA hotspots like Brazil and Russia, as the best fighters from these countries can be fast-tracked to UFC stardom.

White isn’t afraid to cherry pick the best stars from other significant promotions when needed. Michael Page recently signed with UFC after more than ten years with Bellator, Benoît Saint-Denis was plucked from Brave CF ranks, and Kayla Harrison joins from the PFL, as mentioned previously.

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By Dean McHugh.