Kailin Curran was born 11 April, 1991; in Ewa Beach, Hawaii, USA. Curran started kickboxing in 2006, at the age of 15 with her "girlfriends" as a way to stay active and for fun. Curran did the occasional amateur kickboxing match during this period. Curran also has some previous wrestling experience as she trained from the age of 10 - 13. Curran currently trains out of Reign MMA in Lake Forest, California; alongside fellow UFC women fighters Ashlee Evans-Smith and Jessica Penne.
 
Shortly after turning 18, Curran made her MMA debut in a Hawaii Regional, amateur bout. She won via submission. Curran would make her professional debut in the Guam based promotion - Pacific X-treme Combat. She won all three bouts with the competition via decision. Curran was also the first female to be signed with that promotion.

Curran was signed to the UFC in 2014, making her the first female Hawaiian to be signed to the UFC. She was set to face fellow young up and comer Paige VanZant. Originally slated for UFC FN 54, the bout was postponed to UFC Fight Night 57: Edgar vs. Swanson. In an entertaining fight, which earned both fighters Fight of the Night bonuses. Curran would end up losing the fight however, at 2:52 in Round 3 via TKO.

Her next opponent was Alex Chambers, at UFC Fight Night 65: Miocic vs. Hunt; Alex's home country of Australia. Curran was very active and controlled the fight for the first 13 minutes, as she landed clean combinations and devastating leg kicks. Once again Curran would be finished in Round 3, when she went in for a takedown and Chambers defended it, then trapped Curran's arm, this would eventually lead to Curran tapping from an arm-bar at 3:15 in the round. A Performance of the Night bonus was awarded to Chamber's for her effort.

Curran faced fellow 3-2 fighter, Emily Kagan, at UFC Fight Night 80: Namajunas vs VanZant. She captured her first victory in the UFC by submitting Kagan with a second round rear-naked choke.

Following her first UFC victory, Curran then lost three straight. She was submitted in the first round by Felice Herrig at UFC on Fox 20: Holm vs. Shevchenko, and then dropped unanimous decisions to Jamie Moyle and Aleksandra Albu at The Ultimate Fighter 24 Finale and UFC 214: Cormier vs. Jones 2 respectively.