Kayla Harrison joined Brett Okamoto to discuss her UFC debut at UFC 300 defeating Holly Holm, her experience cutting weight for …
what’s up guys Brett okamoto from ESPN joined by UFC bantamweight title Challenger Kayla Harrison who just fought at UFC 300 uh back home and uh the first thing I want to ask you is you had said in the press conference afterwards you’re like I like I can’t believe it’s over already like I I just it feels like it happens so fast you know and now you’re back home sitting on your own your own couch it looks like um the whole week was it just a was it just a a blur I mean you wait so long for something and then it’s uh then you’re back on your couch and and you got a win I know it went so fast it really did it’s crazy like I was I kept trying to tell myself like be present like just you know like enjoy kind of because I feel like for so many moments of my athletic career I was just wanted to get there so fast and so this time specifically I was really focused on being present and just enjoying the journey the good parts and the bad parts um but yeah the fight went really fast like I I literally couldn’t believe it when it was over and I was like doing media I was like wait wow that’s that’s it we’re done it’s it yeah well um I mean obviously the the uh the result was terrific and we’ll talk a little bit about that but was there anything about the um what was what was the biggest difference I mean you you’ve been doing this sport for a while now but this was done obviously in a very different way what was the biggest difference I mean obviously just the crowd you know that there was um quite a few people there uh even though I was was on a the prelims there was still already quite a few people in the crowd so um that was different and I think the level of professionalism like everything is just so buttoned up and the UFC staff from top to bottom super kind welcoming like on point professional um I yeah I just had a great experience I really enjoyed all of it from I mean except maybe like you know that that last pound pretty much everything else was really enjoyable yes and I I did think that maybe that’s what your answer would be is what was the biggest difference while it was 136 pounds yeah that 20 pounds was a little different I can’t imagine I cannot imagine and so I I was going to ask right um you throughout your career have never shied away from talking about anything you know you talk about your past you talk about confidence you talk about everything the good the bad the ugly and that’s that’s terrific so tell me all about that last pound how how was it it was pretty rough no it was rough um I mean I messed up like I got down to 137 on Thursday night 136.8888855 room Thursday night cuz I’m like scared like I’m going to like Zombie Walk and drink a gallon of water I’m just like let’s leave no room for error you know so like I want you to stay with me like my best friend Kayla was there as well and we get back to the room and I’m obviously uncomfortable I don’t like you just don’t feel good your body feels like you can’t get comfortable you have no butt like to lay on it just is like I’m not it’s not an enjoyable experience and so we go back to the room I shower and I come out and they’re all gone they like all went out to eat or something I don’t know what the hell they did and my strength coach Jeremy was there too and anyways I was like all right well I’m just gonna have a little sip of water to take my melatonin so that I can sleep good because I need to sleep good so I can float this pound and I took a sip then I was like one more sip it’s not going to hurt and then Boom the whole water was gone oh yeah so I woke up still a pound over I floated a pound but um if I hadn’t drank that water I probably wouldn’t had to cut the pound in the morning um and I didn’t sleep at all it didn’t help so that last pound was tough it took a while to start sweating then like because it was taking so long to start to sweat I was getting nervous like I’m like is it like how much longer I like I was like asking every 5 minutes how much longer how much longer um and my weight cut you know Eric was like Kayla Just Surrender like just surrender to the process and that’s what he needed to say that’s what I had been telling myself throughout the entire Camp was like just to surrender to the process but I knew it was bad because my Judo coach Big Jim who I’ve talked about a lot he’s very old very very old school like he’s I’ve had a herniated disc in my neck and he’s been like shut up you’re fine so I knew it was bad when he was like hey can we get her out of there and check her weight she looks like she’s gonna die like like I’ll break you out of there kid let’s go so um yeah all in all not the most pleasant experience but totally worth it yeah was I mean because of like the high-profile nature of you cutting down like was the commission involved at all like were they monitoring you at all was was anybody like no huh no I think that um well I think people on the pi staff were like obviously Charles from the pi there were a lot of people who were behind the scenes heavily involved in making sure that it was done in a an appropriate healthy Manner and I wasn’t just like trying to lose 30 pounds in one week so you know everyone was checking in and yeah part of the fight week process is like you check in and and you give them your your your weight was there any reactions were there any like eyebrow raises or was it about like on par with what they’ve seen I think it was probably on par with what they’ve seen nobody said anything to me so I’m assuming that means they weren’t shocked what felt better what felt better the commission saying what the numbers 136 pounds or Jo The Joe Rogan interview which one felt better oh man well I don’t get the Joe Rogan interview if I don’t make 136 pounds so uh I mean yeah they’re both it was just a really magical week wasn’t it like a lot of Firsts a lot of highs um I feel really grateful and blessed to to be on this journey and I do feel like I’m in the right place at the right time um but thank God they said 136 yeah thank God can you tell us because I mean I see you guys do this all the time but I can’t really obviously describe it um what is it like to rehydrate then I mean is it uh what is that process like because then you then you said on the on the night of that you weighed 100 you were up to 160 pounds again so like how are you feeling and what do you do over the course I felt great I like couldn’t believe it that’s also the key right like that nobody really thinks about and that these guys have all gotten down to a real science like so after you I actually when I cut in the morning I got down to 138 point or not 13 135.4 or something so like Eric had me get on the scale in my underwear and drink back up right then before we even went to the official way so he had me start drinking and then I had four different shakes like one and I don’t know exactly what’s in them like one was Amino one was coconut something one was carbs and electrolyte something and one had like caffeine there are four of them and I’m like ready to start guzzling you know I’m ready to like start chugging and he I have to sip on it so I sip on these four shakes for the first two hours I think two two and a half hours and only after I finished the rehydration shakes do I have my first meal so and then it’s water and like if you want coffee or whatever but really just and it’s all like the clean stuff that I was eating like I didn’t get to go eat a burger right away like I really wanted to um but yeah I mean they have it down to a science I couldn’t believe how good I felt like no not a cramp not a not not a pinky toe cramp nothing and I was just like how is this possible like it’s it’s mindboggling to me like it it really is yeah that’s mindboggling to me too that you can do that and then feel great after it like shortly thereafter is is pretty amazing literally within a few hours I felt okay again and by the next day like by the next night I felt felt like it hadn’t even happened like except like I in my mind I was like oh no I remember that like I don’t want to go back there that is that is so insane um you know what was the weirdest thing to me was as soon as I weighed in and I took a drink I started sweating like I don’t know if my body was just like reacting to being overwhelmed or whatever but I started sweating and I was like what the you couldn’t have done this an hour ago for me like you would think that your body wouldn’t sweat for like the next two weeks after something like that because it would just want to cling to its water yeah yeah I don’t I’m not a scientist but NE mind that that is absolutely wild another thing you said at the press conference is that there there were times during the camp and I think this is pretty normal right where like you kind of go through it and you’re like you’re confident and then there are other times you’re like oh man what am I doing I can’t do this you know and when it when it got to fight week was there ever moments like that where you’re just like oh man dude I don’t know like maybe this is going to be totally different Maybe is Holly Holm like I saw what happened with r Rousey when she F her like was there any moments like that there yeah definitely um by the time I got to fight week I believed that I was going to make weight and then because most of the camp I mean training went so good like my Camp was so good I was like in really good shape everything felt great I was worried about the weight during Camp even though I tried to pretend like I wasn’t I was really worried about the weight and I wasn’t I was I just felt like everything was working really well so I wasn’t super worried about it being Holly Holm and then we got to fight week and I was like oh [ __ ] this is Holly home like and then I started to have that roller coaster of emotions where I was like just Fe like what if I get head kicked what if I get knocked out in front of the whole world what what if what if what if what if and that’s where your kind of your mental reps really have to come into like that’s when you lean heavy on them for me where it’s like I have visualized over and over and over again every night me you know like putting an elbow through her forehead and like I just have to go back to that and and go back to my Mantra and talk myself kind of off the ledge yeah how’d you feel right before you walked out I was it was so good it was like very um yeah very like in the zone like just like everything was so clear and calm and I was so peaceful and like yeah it was really good it was great if you had asked me like to speculate on all the different things that could have happened in this fight um you know Holly has sent I mean obviously there were some things that happened in the fight that were strange um or unpredictable I would say um and then she comes out and she said I don’t know what happened I didn’t follow my game plan like I didn’t do anything that I I meant to do and it’s like what how like you’re Holly Hol I mean you you you’re kickboxer you’re a boxer you’re multiple time world champion and different sports like how does that happen that you you you forget what your entire game plan was in the very first round like what do you make of that because you are also a lifelong competitor that to me was just like how does that happen to someone like Holly Holm where you she knows what she’s supposed to do and does the exact opposite of it like do you believe her what like what what what do you make of that um yeah for sure I believe her I mean I don’t think she’s got anything you know I think that I I have had moments like that where you just kind of like for whatever reason you have an off night like you just things don’t connect you’re very disconnected and sort of like disassociated from your body I mean I’ve definitely had that happen to me in competition before it’s you have to get really good at making that not happen and I think that she is I’m sure that I know that she is but it’s also I don’t know man like she’s I think that it was my night I think that it was my night no matter what even if she had stuck to the game plan so that’s sometimes you can’t you can’t beat that you know I’d be curious to know if like um you know the same way that you were like oh that’s Holly Holm that maybe she was a little nervous that maybe that elbow that you had visualized putting through her maybe she had visualized that as well because that it it says it says maybe nerves you know because I just like I was so confused by that first round at least what she what her I was confused by the I was like I have pictured over and over again in my mind her using her footwork in her distance and pretty much like not running but like I was picturing having to chase her and cut off the cage and not not run like you remember when she when Rhonda came at her and she like ducked under it and Rhonda fell on her knee like I was like you can’t chase you can’t chase you can’t chase like that’s what I was picturing over and over and over in my mind and so when she got in the middle of the cage and she kind of stood her ground I was like oh like it kind of threw me for a loop not and then I landed a punch and I was like oh I’m in an MMA fight like yeah let’s go and then she reversed me after I threw her and I was like no I’m really in an MMA fight like let’s go let’s go that that was going to be my next question is that you are very hard on yourself and you also have a good sense of humor like what was going on in your mind when you got re I was just like you got to be [ __ ] kidding me but I mean I knew to be fair I also could feel um how physical I am like in comparison and I was like oh she’s she couldn’t hold me down if I had like she couldn’t there’s nothing that could hold me down right now she can’t hold me down so I knew I was going to get up and get back to good position as long as I just stayed composed and didn’t like give her my neck or do something stupid you know so but yeah I was [ __ ] I was pissed I was like you gota be you got to be kidding me Kayla like I I got to believe after that first round when you went to your corner you were had to be feeling pretty good did you feel like uh like yeah I felt good I felt really good I was like I’m gonna finish her this round yeah I mean if I I would think like just don’t get caught cuz like you said if you’re if you’re physical and you felt her strength and you’re like I can I can out maneuver her and I didn’t feel tired which I obviously with the weight cut I was a little worried like am I gonna be tired what’s gonna happen I’ve been training so hard but if you deplete your body like there’s going to be repercussions but I didn’t feel tired my lungs felt great I felt great it was really was a miracle you and Ali well it’s good preparation too you and Al had talked about this weight cut this practice cut that you had made prior to agreeing to this but I felt like you were kind of subtly you never answered how low you actually went how low did you actually go I got to 140 140 140 yeah and I was like that’s good enough okay we’re good so there was definitely fair it h all happened so fast like it was right after Christmas I had been in Ohio like then I get offered this opportunity and I was like oh my God so we did a 4-day diet and then a cut M and I lost like 17 pounds or something during that period between the sauna and and I hadn’t been training and I had just had my knee scoped and so I was just like there was it was not the best of circumstances to figure out this was I I went out on a limb here like I had faith that this was what I was supposed to do I just really felt called like you know know this is why I started MMA this was the reason I when I first started MMA this was the goal for me was to be UFC champion and I’m very happy with everything I’ve done in my career I’m beyond blessed and grateful for all the opportunities I’ve had and I just felt like there was one more thing for me there is one more thing for me to do and there’s if I was going to do it it was going to be now you know so I I took a leap of and I did not know if I could make I haven’t weighed 135 PBS since I was 16 years old that was the last time I weighed 135 PBS so yeah but God is good once once Amanda Nunes came out and put out a video you were going to get a million questions about it I the only the biggest thing I want to know about is did that surprise you or knowing Amanda in the way you do like that something you expect no it didn’t surprise me I wasn’t sure what she was going to say or do but I expected something for sure and why what makes you what makes you expect that um because I think that it’s hard to walk away from the spotlight and I think that I mean listen I suffer from the same ego as she does like we are cut from the same cloth um and it’s hard to walk away so if she’s having doubts about that you know or if she’s feeling some type of jealousy or whatever like yeah I expected I expected her to to say something I didn’t know like I’m ready to come back or if she was gonna say like you suck I wasn’t sure what she was gonna say but H I’ve never really asked you about this because honestly there was no need to I know you’ve been asked about it before but how much have you guys actually really really trained together I know you told TMZ at one point that you sparred on like your second day of MMA training but beyond that like like how how familiar with with each other are you I mean we never sparred after that first sparring session we never sparred again after that we I would come in and help her if she had a fight like if she was training for someone and she needed me I would come in and be a body be whatever she needed righty Lefty you know drilling dummies punching bag I would come in and cuz I just wanted to get better and I want it like soak up that it’s very different to go with a a top female than to train with a male you know and at our level and at our weight even there’s not a ton of females to train with so um I would anytime like you know they would if they say 10 o’clock at night I’d be there like I but I mean we weren’t like if she didn’t have a fight she wasn’t training so it wasn’t like we were training together every single day and that was all the way through the end of her career that that that was you were helping her up all the way through those camps yeah I just come from a very different background like it doesn’t matter like I just want to keep growing and keep raising the level and keep bringing out the best and for me it’s not like a scarcity thing like there’s enough for all of us there’s plenty to go around and like you win some you lose some you you train hard you you you put your best foot forward and like you go out with respect you give it your all and whatever happens happens like so yeah and that go that that goes along with your goal that you want to be the best fighter in the world and so I’ll ask you um do you feel like you are you you know this sport you’re in there with everybody you feel like you are the best female fighter on the planet yes I do I do feel like that and I feel like um I’m finally on a path where I can do that and not be dependent on other people and other Fighters I can just go do it yeah the last thing I would want to ask you about is this happened actually before the fight and that is that uh you know rockel Pennington said what she said and then your response to her was I would be scared if I were you too and uh my question to you Kayla is that I know that you’re not bad at cutting a promo and you’re not bad at uh creating a headline did you do you actually think she is nervous about a fight with you or was that more of like a you know you didn’t hear R’s hurt now she can’t fight for a while yeah I heard that I heard she she’s not she’s out of the next quarter she’s not gonna be able to fight for quite a bit not surprised okay so what do you think that means for you I mean I think that my time is now I would love to fight for an interim title and then go ahead and unify those titles when she’s all better okay so you and you and Juliana Peña for an interim anybody I mean yeah sure Juliana whoever yeah let’s get it so so final thing how frequently can you can you fight making this cut how many times a year can you fight do you think well we’ll find out probably not four but I mean probably three yeah I think yeah yeah yeah cuz some people like they they don’t want to make that cut and maybe they feel like it’s hard in their bodies or something but like you don’t feel any kind of lasting lingering effects of obviously you said you felt great so me the lasting effects are mental where I’m like I walk past a piece of and I have to put it in my mouth and I’m like Kayla you’re not even hungry like why are you like all day today I’ve been like oh look at that oh chees and crackers oh and I’m like you’re not you are literally not hungry why are you putting this in your mouth right now and I can’t stop so it’s all that’s pretty much the only lasting effects for me so far um thank y um I have to work on my uh mental discipline when it comes to I don’t know man you can’t go down to 135 pounds without mental discipline and I’m happy for you congratulations I mean I know that you’ve been through um I mean obviously you’ve had a great career you’ve also had some frustrating stuff some politics stuff and you know wondering where it was going to go and so the fact the fact that you the fact that you did make your debut at UFC 300 maybe it was just meant to be you know so I think so I know I’ve been frustrated a lot and I have had doubts and like definitely was really unsure about what was going to happen in my career and had to kind of come to peace with the fact that maybe I wasn’t going to get to do everything I wanted to do um but I am I’m really happy and I’m really grateful I do feel like everything happened just the way it’s supposed to and that I’m in the right place at the right time with the right people doing the right things so thanks Brett that means a lot [Applause] oh