UFC 307 is geared up to host not one but two title fights. Raquel Pennington (16-8) will defend her bantamweight belt against former champion Julianna Peña (11-5) in the penultimate PPV fight. However, despite the two being the protagonists of the co-main event fight, another name that’s making a buzz is Kayla Harrison.

Despite being booked to fight Ketlen Vieira on the same night at Salt Lake City, Harrison plans on being the backup fighter for the championship fight in case Julianna Peña has to back down. But it seems like the current UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion understands Harrison’s thirst for a title shot. Why? Because Pennington just dropped a major confession about a title fight in the making against ‘Doug’.

In a recent interview with MMA Junkie, Pennington revealed that she is preparing to face both Julianna Peña and Kayla Harrison at UFC 307. According to the bantamweight champion, Peña has a history of getting injured, so it is a possibility that she could end up fighting Kayla Harrison. A fight that she has been looking forward to. “Honestly, I prepared for this as both Julianna and Kayla. Because I mean Juliana does have a history of getting injured, and I know that Kayla made the comment about wanting to be a backup fighter.”

However, in case Peña makes it to UFC 307, ‘Rocky’ still has plans in mind for Harrison. She claimed that once she defended her title against Peña, she would be giving a title opportunity to the ATT star. As per the bantamweight champion, Harrison has proved herself inside the Octagon and is ready to get into the title picture. “And then Kayla’s next. In my mind. It wasn’t one of those things where I was like, ‘Okay, all of a sudden, Kayla Harrison’s here; we’re gonna fight. I feel like she needed to come in here, and she needed to prove herself in the UFC a little bit.”

Pennington captured the division’s vacant belt thanks to a unanimous decision over Mayra Bueno Silva at UFC 297. The American Top Team fighter thus reached six consecutive victories, five of them on the scorecards. Peña, 7-3 in the Octagon, has not seen action since a loss to the legendary Amanda Nunes at UFC 277. At UFC 289, Peña was going to face Amanda Nunes for the championship, but an injury left her out of that pay-per-view. However, it seems like if Peña wins the championship, she might skip out on fighting Kayla Harrison. And how do we know that? Well, ‘Doug’ made the major revelation in an interview.

Kayla Harrison claims Julianna Peña’s post-UFC 307 plan is to avoid her

In a recent interview with CBS Sports’ Shakiel Mahjouri, Harrison claimed that if Peña wins the bantamweight title at UFC 307, she might issue a call out to Amanda Nunes rather than ‘Doug’. But why? Harrison claims that the Venezuelan is scared of facing her. So, in order to fight Nunes, Peña might go inactive and wait for her return.

“I think that Julianna, if she wins this fight against Raquel, is probably gonna try to be inactive and push to have Amanda come back. She’s trying to avoid the inevitable; I wouldn’t want to fight me either; I get it. She’s calling out Amanda [Nunes], saying I’m on steroids… Julianna doesn’t have a win over someone in the Top 15 right now.”

Harrison further added that Peña hasn’t won a fight in the past two years due to her being inactive, while her last fight too was a losing effort. So it was just the Venezuelan’s luck that kept her in the title picture. However, ‘Doug’ would be prepared to fight her in case Peña decides to call her out. But what do you think? Who will Kayla Harrison get to fight post-UFC 307, if she wins? Let us know in the comments.