Kayla Jean Harrison is an American judoka and mixed martial artist born July 2, 1990, in Middletown, Ohio, who became the first American to win an Olympic gold medal in judo at the 2012 London Games and successfully defended her title at the 2016 Rio Games. She also won the 2010 World Judo Championships and was promoted to sixth degree black belt in 2016 as the youngest American to reach that rank. Moving to mixed martial arts, she won the Professional Fighters League women's lightweight championship in 2019 and 2021 and won the UFC women's bantamweight championship by submission in 2025, becoming the first fighter to hold both an Olympic gold medal and a UFC title.
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Career HighlightThe first female fighter to win both an Olympic gold medal and a UFC championship. 1 Classification
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Lead section, career summary sentence
She is the first female fighter to win an Olympic gold medal and a UFC championship.
Wikipedia, article summary lead
Kayla Jean Harrison (born July 2, 1990) is an American professional mixed martial artist and former judoka.
Competed In: 2016 Summer Olympics, lead paragraph, competed-in
In judo, Harrison won the women’s 78 kg gold medal in the 2010 World Judo Championships and gold medals at the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics.
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