Multiple time BJJ World, Pan and ADCC champion Gabi Garcia is calling out PFL champ, and former Olympic judo champion, Kayla Harrison for a fight at whatever weight Harrison chooses. Garcia, who is 6-0 (1NC) in MMA, recently spoke to AG Fight about her rival, who she claimed was ducking her.
“Kayla [Harrison] came on the internet to talk s—t, Julia Budd too,” said Garcia (ht bjpenn.com). “I accepted all these fights, but [Harrison] always said that I was an easy fight. That I had no technique to fight her. But the Gabi of old is not the same as Gabi [now].”
Garcia then said that she informed her manager that she wanted to fight Harrison; who is currently competing in PFL season 3’s lightweight bracket. She added that she heard from Harrison’s side that there were doubts over what weight Garcia could make as well as doping allegations.
Garcia said that she is willing to meet any standards Harrison and her team could dream up to make the fight happen.
“Let’s go! Do you want to test me all the time? What you want? Do you want me to hit how much weight? I talked to my doctor, [to find out] what the minimum weight I could get. Everything she was asking for. In reality, she doesn’t want to fight.”
Additionally, Garcia questioned the idea that Harrison would consider her an ‘easy fight’. If that’s true, Garcia asked, “why not fight me?”
“Her last opponent seems to have 11 losses. I come from seven victories. So then. Kayla, I want to fight you. First time I challenge someone. She challenged me, we have been talking for two years now, and I say: ‘What do you want to be able to fight with me? Do you want the test, the doping? Do you want me to hit the weight? What you want?’ Because challenging me is easy. So, that’s my goal. I want to fight her. I don’t know when that will happen.”
Along with believing that Harrison was ducking her, Garcia said she’s not happy with Harrison claiming she is the best fighter on the planet.
“Then she comes to say, ‘I’m number one.’ You are the number one of the PFL, who put you in the [good] fights and made an event for you, as Rizin also put up a good fight for me,” charged Garcia. “… there is Amanda [Nunes], well, there is Cris [Cyborg]. She is far from being [number one].”
Garcia debuted in MMA in 2015, when she TKO’d pro wrestler Lei’D Tapa with a backfist at RIZIN’s 2015 Grand Prix event. Garcia’s next three victories all came in 2016. They included an armbar win over Anna Malyukova, an americana over Destanie Yarbrough and a 41-second TKO over Yumiko Hotta (a pro wrestler in her 50s).
In 2017 Garcia fought to a no contest after an accidental eye poke against her opponent Oksana Gagloeva. Her last fights were in 2018 when she beat Veronika Futina (rear naked choke) and Barbara Nepomuceno (americana).
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