Would Olympic gold medalist Kayla Harrison follow Ronda Rousey into MMA?
When she first attended a UFC event in person seven months ago, America’s most decorated judo champion arrived in search of an epiphany.
Kayla Harrison hoped to figure out if she could envision herself someday trading blows in the Octagon instead of just cheering from the stands.
“I tried to picture myself in a cage beating the crap out of somebody,” Harrison said. “The fact that I wasn’t completely disgusted by it tells me I might want to do it.”
Harrison’s curiosity leaves her with a big decision to make after she attempts to repeat as Olympic gold medalist in the 78-kilogram weight class on Aug. 11. The 26-year-old must choose whether to remain dedicated to judo or make the leap to mixed martial arts, a path that rocketed Ronda Rousey to international stardom following her bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
For Harrison, the decision is complicated because she’s drawn to both options for different reasons.
Promoting judo as either a competitor or spokeswoman is important to Harrison because the sport has done a lot for her. Success in judo instilled Harrison with newfound strength and confidence as a teenager after years of sexual abuse by a youth coach left her emotionally scarred and on the verge of suicide.
At the same time, an MMA organization like the UFC could potentially offer fame, fortune and a platform to share her story with a more mainstream audience. Harrison founded a charitable foundation four years ago dedicated to teaching parents how to recognize the warning signs of sexual abuse and helping victims to overcome their shame and suffering.
“Think of all the people that watch UFC,” Harrison said. “Think of all the people I could talk to about my foundation. There’s just a wider audience than there is for judo.
“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve given a speech or shared my story, and someone will come up to me and say, ‘Something similar happened to me when I was younger.’ I remember I got a note one time and this girl said, ‘I was raped three months ago. It’s hard for me to get out of bed, but you’ve given me hope that it will get easier.’ Even if it’s just one person, that kind of stuff makes it all worth it.”
If Harrison shifts from judo to MMA after the Olympics, she certainly won’t be the first to attempt such a conversion.
MMA organizations have mined Olympic sports for talent for years, from judo and taekwondo, to boxing and wrestling. Athletes whose chosen sports lack a lucrative professional league often view MMA as a way to stay relevant more than once every four years or to earn a paycheck once the Olympic spotlight fades.
Daniel Cormier, a U.S. Olympian in freestyle wrestling in 2004 and 2008, is now the reigning UFC light heavyweight champion. Dan Severn, Randy Couture, Brock Lesnar and Dan Henderson are each current or former MMA stars whose careers began in wrestling. And of course there’s Rousey, who parlayed world-class judo skills into a three-year run as UFC women’s bantamweight champion before suffering her first loss against Holly Holm last November.
Harrison and her agent have engaged in exploratory talks with the UFC, but those close to her are skeptical she’ll ever leave judo behind to try to follow in Rousey’s footsteps.
“I’m predicting she never will,” best friend and fellow judo Olympian Marti Malloy said.
“Never say never but I’ll believe it when I see it,” mother Jeannie Yazell added.
Coach Jimmy Pedro Jr. suggested Harrison’s preference would be transitioning into a role as global ambassador for the International Judo Federation in which she’d get paid to make appearances at tournaments and promote the sport. Pedro only sees MMA as a realistic option for Harrison if an organization made her a lucrative offer guaranteeing TV appearances, sponsors and the chance to create a brand.
“Then it isn’t just fighting MMA,” Pedro said. “It’s an opportunity at stardom.”
Harrison’s friends and family don’t question her ability to succeed in MMA should she choose to make the switch. They’ve already seen the ultracompetitive Ohio native overcome far too much to make that mistake.
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The judo coach that gained the trust of Harrison’s parents, babysat her younger siblings and joined the family on vacations turned out to be a horrific monster. Daniel Doyle sexually abused Harrison until she was 16 years old, starting with covert hand holding and secret back massages and giving way to three years of intercourse during overseas trips to far-flung judo tournaments.
When Harrison finally revealed the pattern of abuse to her mother in 2006, she was no longer the cheerful, fun-loving girl her family had previously known. Resentful of her parents, terrified of Doyle and fearful of what others were saying about her behind her back, Harrison plunged into a deep depression, refusing to emerge from her room for days at a time.
“It was horrific, absolutely horrific,” Yazell said. “She would not get out of bed, she hated life and he kept calling and driving by our house. I was fearful for her. She was extremely fragile.”
It was at that time that Yazell took a risk — a huge risk. She packed up a U-Haul truck, drove 14 straight hours without stopping and deposited her depressed daughter with strangers who lived on the outskirts of Boston.
The Pedros, Big Jim and his son Jimmy, trained some of the country’s top judo prospects at their dojo in Wakefield, Mass. Yazell hoped that getting Harrison out of Doyle’s clutches and back into the sport she once loved would help her rediscover her passion for life.
Training with the Pedros wasn’t a magical cure-all. Seldom did a week go by without Harrison suffering a panic attack or melting into a pool of tears after an arduous practice, a difficult counseling session or an encounter that triggered a memory of Doyle. Seldom did more than a month or two go by without Harrison threatening to quit judo to lead a normal life.
But gradually the tough love from the Pedros helped Harrison heal, as did her camaraderie with Rousey and the other young judokas with whom she shared a house. Harrison’s confidence returned and her anxiety faded away, especially after her 2008 testimony helped persuade a federal judge to give Doyle a 10-year prison sentence, the maximum permitted under his plea bargain agreement.
“It wasn’t really until we convinced Kayla to go and testify and put this guy behind bars that she could sort of rest,” the younger Pedro said. “She always had in the back of her mind that this guy would show up at a judo tournament or find some other way to harass her. It wasn’t until she got that guy locked up that she could be at ease.”
No longer as emotionally burdened as when she first arrived in Massachusetts, Harrison poured herself into her training, honing her technique and improving her strength and conditioning. By the time Rousey returned to the Pedros’ dojo after a yearlong sabbatical following her Olympic bronze, Harrison had evolved from a pushover to a peer.
The training sessions from that time period are still the stuff of legend in judo circles because of the aggression and intensity both Harrison and Rousey displayed. They would leave the dojo bruised, battered and bloodied after pushing each other into walls and throwing each other to the floor over and over every night.
“Having someone in the room who hates to lose as much as you is always a really good motivator,” Harrison said. “One thing I will never, ever deny about Ronda is she would rather chew off her own arm than lose, and I’m the same way. I’d do whatever it takes to win. Having that kind of atmosphere when you’re training makes you get a lot better, a lot faster.”
While Harrison says she and Rousey have a cordial relationship away from the dojo, she acknowledges having a “Ronda complex” throughout her career. Harrison has always taken pride in matching or surpassing her former training partner’s accomplishments.
Rousey was the first star pupil coached by the Pedros; Harrison succeeded her as the Pedros’ golden girl. Rousey became the first American to medal in judo at the Olympics; Harrison raised the bar further by taking gold four years later.
Might Harrison follow Rousey to the UFC after the Olympics are over? Might she someday supplant Rousey as the most dominant female fighter in MMA? Harrison doesn’t rule out the possibility but insists it’s far from her primary motivation.
If she makes the jump to MMA, it will be because the sport promises the possibility of formidable competition, a comfortable paycheck and a pulpit from which she can share her story with a wider audience.
“Ronda has her own journey and I have my own journey,” Harrison said. “If I do MMA, I’ll have a Ronda complex again. I’ll have to do everything bigger and better. But for now I’m happy just being Kayla.”
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