Kayla Harrison sounds off on ‘inappropriate’ UFC 300 fan Q&A: “It’s disrespectful”
Kayla Harrison wasn’t pleased with the UFC 300 fan Q&A she participated in last week.
The two-time Olympic judoka is set to finally make her promotional debut next month. At the historic UFC 300 milestone event on April 13th, Kayla Harrison will meet former champion Holly Holm. The former two-time PFL tournament winner previously left Donn Davis‘ promotion to sign with the UFC earlier this year.
Last Friday before UFC 299 weigh-ins, Kayla Harrison participated in a fan Q&A. Also on stage were lightweight contender Arman Tsarukyan, as well as light-heavyweight champion Alex Pereira. While ‘Poatan’ was a fan-favorite, they were brutal otherwise. Tsarukyan was heavily booed and even taunted on the mic by several fans.
However, Kayla Harrison wasn’t happy with a sexually charged question directed at Tsarukyan. During the Q&A, one fan asked the lightweight contender if he was interested in having sex with the former PFL fighter. To Tsarukyan’s credit, he largely just laughed off the question and quickly moved on without translating.
On The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani earlier today, Kayla Harrison discussed the incident. There, the former Judoka admitted that she was frustrated with it and that fans wouldn’t ask a female fighter the same thing about Alex Pereira, for example.
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Women’s bantamweight Kayla Harrison sounds off on ‘disheartening’ UFC 300 fan Q&A
“At one point there was a fan who came up and spoke to Arman in Russian.” Kayla Harrison stated on The MMA Hour reflecting on the UFC 300 fan Q&A. “Arman was getting booed the whole time, and we’ve talked about it and we’re fine. The guy asked him basically how many times would-, he asked a really inappropriate question about me. Arman answered it, and I looked like an idiot. I’m up on stage laughing and Megan Olivi says ‘Would you care to translate it?’ and Arman was like ‘No, it was a stupid question move on’.”
She continued, “Then in the next day I’m tagged in all of these Russian outlets with the translation of what he asked. It’s disheartening I think, it’s disrespectful. I’m a two-time Olympic champion, a world champion, I’m a mother, I’m an advocate for survivors of sexual abuse, I wrote a book and I have a foundation. In that sense, it’s disrespectful that someone would even ask that question.”
“More than that, you would never hear a female get asked ‘How many times you have sex with Alex Pereira?’” Kayla Harrison concluded. “We don’t sexualize men like that. So it was disheartening.”
What do you make of these comments from Kayla Harrison? Did you catch this moment on the UFC 300 fan Q&A broadcast?
