When [autotag]Kayla Harrison[/autotag] enters the cage for the first time this season at 2021 PFL 3, she’ll do so with a newfound purpose. That’s because Harrison, the reigning PFL women’s lightweight champion from 2019, is now a mother.
No, you didn’t miss any big news about her being pregnant. Harrison became a parent because she felt a responsibility to her family.
“I became the guardian of my niece and nephew,” Harrison said.
Harrison said that, in November 2019, the month before she won the title and $1 million prize in her first season, her mother had a stroke. At the time, Harrison’s mother had custody of her young niece and nephew, but with a tough recovery ahead, Harrison decided to step up.
“I said, ‘Let me take them. I can do it,'” Harrison said. “When it’s do or die and it comes to that moment when sh*t gets real, who you gonna call? You call Kayla. That’s my job. That’s what I do. I rise to the occasion. I consider this no different. I’m gonna rise to the occasion for these kids and give them the best possible life I can.
“I love them so much, and I so badly want to get it right for them. I thought I wanted to be the best (fighter) in the world so bad. Take that feeling and multiply it by a hundred thousand. That’s how I feel for these kids.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CDMCx8Eglfc/
To hear more from Harrison on raising two kids and what it means for her fighting career, you can watch the video above.
Harrison returns Thursday in the PFL 3 co-headliner against Mariana Morais at Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, N.J. The event airs on ESPN following a prelim on ESPN+.
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