PFL Chairman Donn Davis clarifies comments on UFC star Kayla Harrison
PFL Chairman Donn Davis has clarified his past comments on Kayla Harrison.
Davis came under fire within the MMA community when he compared Harrison to NBA star Kevin Durant. Davis said that Harrison left PFL for the UFC because she’s a follower who needs validation.
Davis is now clearing the air on what he said about his former golden goose.
RELATED: KAYLA HARRISON ACCUSES PFL OF TREATING FIGHTERS POORLY: “THE TRUTH WILL COME OUT”
Donn Davis Admits Kayla Harrison Comments Shouldn’t Have Been Made
Donn Davis recently had a chat with Mike Heck of MMAFighting.com. During the interview, Davis insisted that his comments were taken out of context.
“What I said had immense respect and immense context, but when it gets cut down in social media, was taken completely out of context,” Davis told MMA Fighting. “So I’ll try to re-put it in context again, but I’m sure it will re-get cut out of context.
“To repeat, I only said three things. One, we’re immensely proud that we developed her from scratch. She was one of my favorite fighters and I think she’s one of the greatest fighters of all time in the women’s divisions. So first of all, Dana never says that.
“Number two, we made her an offer to be extremely high paid and to spend her whole career here, and to do anything she wanted. I have a huge amount of respect and basically offered her a blank check and a blank ticket, not just economically but post her career. Dana never says that. That’s because we wanted her.
“And number three, we offered her bigger fights here than she has at the UFC. Cyborg, bigger fight. Pacheco, bigger fight. They’re bigger than the two fights she just had. Nobody would disagree with that. So why is she at the UFC? That’s what I said.”
With that said, he admits that the Kevin Durant comparison would’ve been better left unsaid.
“I probably should have said nothing, but I was trying to explain the situation.”
Prior to Davis’ clarification, Harrison fired back at the PFL Chairman. She claimed that fighters are treated poorly in PFL and that the truth would be revealed one day.
Time will tell if Davis’ attempt at clearing the air leads to cooler heads prevailing.
