Julia Budd released from PFL after she “refused to fulfill her contractual obligation” for fight with Kayla Harrison

Former Bellator featherweight champion Julia Budd has been released from the PFL.

Budd was expected to face Kayla Harrison at the PFL World Championships later this month, but it was announced the Canadian was out and replaced by Aspen Ladd. There was no reason for Budd’s withdrawal but now PFL CEO Peter Murray revealed the Canadian has since been released from the promotion.

“She’s been released,” Murray said to MMAFighting about Budd. “That is correct [she is no longer in PFL].”

According to the report, Julia Budd “refused to fulfill her contractual obligation” which forced the PFL to scrap her fight against Kayla Harrison.

Peter Murray also revealed that Julia Budd never signed her bout agreement to fight Kayla Harrison which forced the PFL to make the switch and replace her with Aspen Ladd.

“She had the opportunity to take the fight, and she chose not to,” Murray said about Julia Budd. “[Budd] did not sign her bout agreement, consistent with her contract, and unfortunately we had to move on. We’re really excited about Aspen. This is going to be a great fight.

“While originally fans and we had wanted to see Kayla and Julia, but that didn’t get done,” Murray continued about Julia Budd. “So Aspen, she’s been training. She’s been looking forward to getting back in the cage, and the timing was right given the circumstances. I think it’s a great matchup. Aspen beat Julia. It should be a better fight. It’s on.”

Julia Budd is 17-6 as a pro-MMA fighter and coming off a decision win over Martina Jindrova in June of this year. In her regular season debut this year in the PFL, Budd lost a decision to Larissa Pachecho, as the Canadian failed to make the playoffs.

Budd went 2-3 in the PFL after fighting out her contract with Bellator. In Bellator, Budd went 9-1 with her lone loss to Cris Cyborg by TKO to lose her featherweight title. In her career, she has notable wins over Germaine de Randamie, Arlene Blencowe, Marloes Coenen, Olga Rubin, and Talita Nogueira among others.