Kayla Harrison of American Top Team one step, one throw closer to becoming a millionaire

The Professional Fighters League is about to begin its playoffs in October, bringing live MMA action to on ESPN2, ESPN+ and ESPN Deportes.

Continuing Friday with its first of three playoff events, South Florida’s Kayla Harrison will be featured on that card on ESPN2 as she continues her journey to a title and $1 million prize.

Harrison is 5-0 since making her MMA debut in June 2018, including two wins during the 2019 PFL regular season.

The two-time Olympic gold medalist in judo wants to be the best MMA fighter in the world.

The next step toward that goal is winning her semifinal bout against New Zealand’s Genah Fabian to qualify for the PFL championship, which would give her a chance at winning her first MMA title and $1 million.

Harrison, 29, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in judo, became the first U.S. athlete to win gold in judo in the Olympics.

Originally from Middletown, Ohio, she trains at the award-winning American Top Team in Coconut Creek.

Away from the cage, she twice appeared on the hit TV show “Impractical Jokers” on truTV.

In a video interview I conducted with Harrison at American Top Team, she discussed the Professional Fighters League, training at ATT, $1 million, Brooks & Dunn, Impractical Jokers, Fearless Foundation and more.

Dealing with the highs and lows of life, Harrison authored a book “Fighting Back,” telling her story of child sexual abuse by her coach to help others recognize and prevent child sexual abuse. She also guides the Fearless Foundation to shine a light on the darkness that is child sexual abuse and to enrich the lives of survivors through education and sport, thus leading them to mastery and enabling them to flourish in all aspects of life.

For more info on Harrison and the foundation, visit https://www.kaylaharrison.com/.

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Jim Varsallone

Miami Herald

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Jim Varsallone writes a high school sports column twice a week, featuring top performers in all varsity sports (boys and girls) in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. He also covers pro wrestling, something he’s done since his college days in the late 1980s. Now in his fifth decade of coverage, he currently follows WWE (Raw, SmackDown and NXT), AEW, Ring of Honor, TNA Impact Wrestling, MLW, WOW, NWA, and the South Florida indies, mainly CCW. He writes MMA, too -- mostly profile stories and video interviews with American Top Team and Sanford MMA fighters in South Florida. As for pro wrestling, he writes feature stories and profile pieces, updates upcoming show schedules in South Florida, photographs the action and interviews talent (audio and video) -- sharing the content here and via social media on his Facebook, Twitter and YouTube channel: jim varsallone (jimmyv3 channel). Support my work with a digital subscription