UFC 316 video: Kayla Harrison mauls Julianna Peña to become champion, faces off with Amanda Nunes

Kayla Harrison realized her dream on Saturday night after a lopsided mauling leading to a submission finish over Julianna Peña to become champion at UFC 316.

It was evident from the first exchange that Harrison was a much more physically imposing fighter as she worked her way inside and brought Peña down to the canvas. Another takedown in the second round saw Harrison advance her position before nearly locking on an arm-triangle choke but that eventually led to a kimura getting locked on.

As Harrison torqued the submission, Peña tapped almost immediately before risking serious injury as the two-time Olympic champion added more gold to her resume. Following the fight, Harrison embraced Peña as the rivals shared a few words before the new champion was officially crowned.

“We prayed for each other,” Harrison said about her conversation with Peña “It’s not personal. We’re here to fight, this is a business. I love what I do. I’m grateful that I had a great fighter like Julianna to bring out a better version of me.”

Before she could really celebrate, Harrison then turned her attention to former champion Amanda Nunes, who was sitting cage side watching the action unfold. Harrison then invited her into the cage where they faced off as former teammates now turned potential opponents.

“Amanda, I see you Amanda. Come on up, Amanda!” Harrison shouted. “This is the next fight.”

Nunes made her way into the cage where shook hands with Harrison before revealing that she always expected this outcome when they previously trained together at American Top Team in Florida.

“Yes, definitely [I’m coming back],” Nunes said. “We knew this was going to happen. Now we’re going to do it.”

Of course to get to Nunes in the future, Harrison had to handle Peña in the present and that’s exactly what she did.

Some early striking from Harrison set up the clinch as she pushed Peña against the cage to begin setting up her takedown. Harrison eventually latched onto the body lock and used a slick inside trip to bring Peña crashing to the canvas.

From there, Peña managed to get into full guard with Harrison pressing down on her as the bigger, stronger fighter on top. Harrison dropped an inside elbow and Peña answered back with a pair of illegal up kicks, which resulted in referee Vitor Ribeiro pausing the action.

Ribeiro ultimately penalized Peña point for the illegal strikes before the action resumed on the feet.

Harrison once again used her striking to push Peña back and then set up her takedowns again. While Peña defended well, Harrison was relentless with her pressure before bringing the fight down to the ground again.

With Peña defending off her back, Harrison was looking to do damage before advancing her position to potentially set up a submission. Harrison was just muscling Peña around on the ground while looking for an arm-triangle choke but the cage got in the way.

That’s when Harrison transitioned to the kimura and she immediately ripped the arm behind Peña’s back, which forced her to tap out with just a few seconds left as the fight came to a close at 4:55 in the second round.

It was a dominant performance as Harrison dispatched Peña and now prepares for possibly the biggest fight in women’s MMA history with Nunes making her return to the UFC.