Stop me if you’ve heard this one: Decorated judoka puts her Olympic medals to the side and jumps into MMA, winning via armbar in the first round before dazzling the assembled media with her easy, natural charisma.

Considering our track record with this particular narrative in this particular sport, it would be easy to get way too hyped about Kayla Harrison, and way too soon.

Thanks to her victorious pro debut at PFL 2 last week, the gold medal-winning judoka is now 1-0 as an MMA fighter. But one win over an opponent with a losing record does not a career make, and we ought to know it by now.

Still, now that Ronda Rousey has run off to the land of scripted outcomes and meaningful pointing, who could blame us for getting a little excited about Harrison’s potential? Here’s a real live Olympian – and this one actually won gold, TWICE – who, at 27, is still young enough to make a go of it.

But before we get way ahead of ourselves (which, in fairness, is kind of our thing) let’s look at some pros and cons, if only to keep ourselves grounded.

PRO: If judo made Rousey great, it ought to make Harrison untouchable

It’s true that if we’re just comparing judo accomplishments, there’s really no comparison. Rousey won bronze at the Olympics, plus some golds and silvers at other tournaments like the Pan-Ams. Harrison won two Olympic gold medals and dominated the judo scene for years.

CON: Harrison is getting a significantly later start in MMA

Rousey had her first amateur fight in 2010, at the age of 23. By the time she was the age Harrison is now, she was 10-0 as a pro and the UFC women’s bantamweight champ. That’s not to say Harrison is too old a dog to learn any new tricks. It may, however, mean that there’s no time to waste.

PRO: Harrison is big, physical, and almost frighteningly eager to learn

After her first-round submission victory over Brittney Elkin last Thursday, Harrison told reporters she couldn’t wait to get back in the gym. She also seems to know where she needs the most work, saying that she’d already told her boxing coach to cancel all his plans so he could train her every single day. That work ethic combined with her natural strength and athleticism? Here’s a person who can go somewhere.

CON: The weight class she’s competing in basically doesn’t exist in women’s MMA

Harrison’s first fight came at lightweight, which is essentially the women’s MMA equivalent of super heavyweight. She’d have to shed another 10 pounds to make featherweight, which is still a pretty thin division with a lack of opponents. PFL can bring warm bodies up to her when she needs them, but that might get old in a hurry.

PRO: PFL has every reason to lay the groundwork for Harrison’s success

Look, it’s not like PFL has a whole lot going on in the burgeoning female star department. Harrison is pretty much the whole ballgame there, and PFL got in on the ground floor. If she needs to be brought along slowly, in a weight class created just for her? Fine, PFL will do it. It wants Harrison to be a star arguably even more than she does.

CON: If that plan works, eventually the big fish will outgrow the small pond

You already know how this will go. As Harrison racks up wins against hand-picked opponents, the call for her to test herself in the UFC will only get louder. Anyone north of 135 pounds is bound to end up on a collision course with Cris Cyborg, at least in our imaginations, and pretty soon every fight that’s not that one feels like a consolation prize. It’s still a relatively short road from the bottom to the top in women’s MMA. But once you get there, the competition gets serious in a hurry.

PRO: How can you not like Harrison?

Watch her interviews and she comes off as charismatic and confident, though also just the right amount of funny and self-deprecating. She’s comfortable in front of a camera. She has the sort of magnetic personality that will make fans feel invested in her career. She’s easy to root for, and we all know how much that counts for in this sport.

CON: There is zero chance that we will let her just be herself

The Rousey comparisons are unavoidable. A blonde judoka with a thousand-watt smile putting people away via armbar? Come on. No matter what Harrison does, it’s going to be measured against what Rousey did. Plus, the brighter a star you become in this sport, the more reasons we will give you to hate the attention. Harrison is starting out under the microscope. That can be an unpleasant place to be after a while.

For more on PFL 2, check out the MMA Events section of the site.