Kayla Harrison has joined Henry Cejudo in an exclusive club in combat sports lore as Olympic champions who went on to also become a UFC champion.

The two-time Olympic gold medallist in judo submitted Julianna Peña to become the new women’s bantamweight champion Saturday in the co-main event of UFC 316 in New Jersey.

Harrison’s journey to becoming a UFC champion was long and arduous.

Before beginning her mixed marital arts career, she became the most accomplished American judoka in history. Harrison won gold medals at both London 2012 ‍and Rio 2016 competing in the ‍78-kilogram division. Harrison was also a former judo training partner of Ronda Rousey, the UFC’s inaugural women’s bantamweight champ and an Olympic bronze medallist in her own right.

Cejudo won Olympic gold in the men’s 55-kilogram freestyle wrestling tournament in Beijing in 2008 before starting MMA and later becoming a two-weight UFC champion by upsetting Demetrious Johnson for the flyweight belt in 2018 and winning a bantamweight title the following year after moving up in weight.

Harrison, 34, had her first pro MMA bout in 2018 and has since amassed a 19-1 record in the sport. Her lone loss was a five-round decision in 2022 to Larissa Pacheco, a fighter Harrison had previously beaten twice.

What’s almost equally as impressive as Harrison becoming a two-sport world champion is the dramatic body transformation she has undergone so that she could compete under the UFC banner.

Harrison competed in judo at roughly 172 pounds. She joined the UFC in January of 2024 after parting ways with the Professional Fighters League, where she was a two-time PFL lightweight tournament winner and primarily fought at 155 pounds.

Harrison had only fought at 145 pounds in MMA once, back in 2020 when she finished Courtney King with a second-round technical knockout. The UFC folded its women’s 145-pound featherweight division in 2023, so the idea of an athlete of Harrison’s size and strength cutting all the way down to 135 was difficult to comprehend.

The dedicated American Top Team member, who stands five-foot-eight, took on the challenge and has never missed weight in the UFC.

Harrison debuted last April at UFC 300 with a one-sided win over former titleholder Holly Holm. Harrison submitted Holm with a rear-naked choke in the second round yet perplexingly the UFC did not award Harrison a title shot. Instead, Harrison was paired with Ketlen Viera at UFC 307, where she earned a dominant decision victory to become the clear-cut No. 1 contender.

Peña, 35, first became the 135-pound champion thanks to her massive upset submission win over Amanada Nunes at UFC 269 in 2021. Peña was then dominated by Nunes over five rounds in the immediate rematch the following year at UFC 277.

Nunes announced her retirement following a subsequent title defence at UFC 289; the Brazilian legend has since announced her plan to return to the sport to reclaim the title she vacated in 2023.

After a two-year layoff to rehab several injuries, Peña was gifted a title shot in her return despite her inactivity and the fact she was coming off a loss. Peña became a two-time titleholder this past October thanks to a controversial split-decision win over Raquel Pennington at UFC 307; Pennington had won the vacant title at UFC 297 early in 2024 by beating Mayra Bueno Silva in Toronto.

Peña and Harrison frequently engaged in trash talk in the leadup to UFC 316. At Thursday’s press conference, Harrison pointed out that Peña (12-6) has lost more fights in her career than Harrison had lost rounds.

Harrison was a massive betting favourite heading into her first UFC title fight with Peña coming in as roughly a five-to-one underdog. In fact, no defending UFC champion this decade has been a bigger listed underdog than Peña was for this matchup.

The way the fight played out justified the one-sided odds.

Harrison was able to take Peña down to the canvas early in the opening round and Peña was deducted a point after landing an illegal upkick to Harrison whilst Harrison was a grounded opponent with a knee on the mat.

Peña was unable to keep the fight standing in the second round as well and Harrison began landing some ground-and-pound strikes before she worked to secure a submission.

After briefly looking for an arm-triangle choke from half guard, Harrison attacked a kimura lock in the waning seconds of the round and Peña immediately tapped before her arm was potentially broken.

Harrison broke down in tears and was presented the gold belt before she called Nunes, who was watching cageside, into the Octagon for a faceoff.

Though nothing is official, it appears Harrison’s first title defence will be against Nunes at a future date in what should be the most anticipated women’s MMA fight since perhaps Nunes fought Cris “Cyborg” for the defunct featherweight title more than six years ago.

Who knows exactly when and where that matchup might take place but for the time being, Harrison should bask in the glory of this accomplishment.

Harrison is one of the most accomplished athletes of her generation regardless of the sport and a fantastic role model.

The UFC could not ask for a better representative of what it means to be a champion-calibre athlete than Harrison, and now the organization has a de facto superfight to market between the new champ and the consensus greatest of all-time.