Kayla Harrison sympathizes with Raquel Pennington's controversial title loss at UFC 307: 'I wouldn't want to lose like that'

Kayla Harrison may now be the leading contender for the UFC women's bantamweight title, but she thinks the wrong fighter is now holding the championship belt.

Harrison defeated Brazilian contender Ketlen Vieira at UFC 307 last weekend in Salt Lake City to put herself at the front of the queue at 135 pounds.

Later the same night, Julianna Pena dethroned Raquel Pennington to become a two-time bantamweight champion after claiming a split-decision victory in the co-main event.

Chatting to Grind City Media's John Morgan , Harrison gave her take on that result and pointed to the rarest of occurrences – a media consensus – with all of the media's tracked scores from social media agreeing that Pennington should have taken the win on the scorecards.

MORE: Two-time UFC champion Julianna Pena says title rivals will have to take her belt 'out of my cold, dead fingers'

Harrison sides with media over judges after Pennington-Pena decision at UFC 307

Of the 27 media members whose scores were featured on the MMA Decisions website, 26 scored the fight 48-47 to Pennington, with the only dissenting scorecard scoring the fight as a draw.

In all 27 cases, Pennington would have retained the title, but experienced judges Michael Bell and Sal D'Amato both scored the fight 48-47 to Pena, overriding Derek Cleary's 48-47 card for Pennington and giving Pena the split-decision win.

"I was doing media (so) I missed round one, and I went and I looked at MMA Decisions and I saw that all of you guys scored it for Raquel, and I've never seen that on MMA Decisions," said Harrison.

"Usually there's a couple of people that disagree, but everyone scored it (for Pennington) and I thought, based on what I saw, that she won the fight.

"I feel bad for 'Rocky,' because I like her. She's humble, she seems to be an introvert. She's not an entertainer, she's a fighter, and that's it. And there's nothing wrong with that. I have no problems with that whatsoever.

"It's kind of like an unspoken rule in our sport – you've got to earn the title. You can't steal the title, you've got to earn it. So I just felt bad for her. I wouldn't want to lose like that."

Harrison focusing on improvements after UFC 307 decision win

Harrison's title ambitions remain very much alive after she followed up her dominant UFC debut victory over former champ Holly Holm at UFC 300 with a hard-earned unanimous decision victory over Vieira in Salt Lake City in a fight that left her sporting some visible damage for the first time in her MMA career.

"Nineteen fights in, I finally look like I've been in a fight! Can you believe it? Unbelievable!" she joked.

"I normally look pretty spiffy, but my mom, my poor mom, she was like, 'Oh my God!' I was like, 'Mum! 'Tis just a flesh wound!'"

Despite her victory, the manner of Harrison's win left the former two-time Olympic judo champion less than satisfied, and she's already identified a number of areas for improvement.

"I want to dominate, you know? I know how good I am, and I know what I'm capable of, " she explained.

"So, when I'm not able to execute to the level that I want to execute, it's frustrating for me. It's disappointing.

"I want to go out there. I want to put on a show. I want to be a star. I want to instill my will, and I want to win by TKO, KO or submission. I don't want to get decisions.

"It's tough, but (there's) a lot to improve on. I'm grateful. I already watched the fight (and) I have all kinds of stuff that I'm ready to go back to the gym and start working on, inside the cage and outside of the cage. I made some mistakes. So, yeah, today's a new day and a great opportunity for growth."