Kayla Harrison hopes Amanda Nunes fight can 'bring women's MMA to a whole new level'

Yahoo

2 days ago

Kayla Harrison is officially the best bantamweight on Earth.
UFC 316 was Harrison's coronation and further solidified her place in combat sports history. The two-time Olympic gold medalist and two-time PFL champion is now also a UFC champion.
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But Harrison's goal has long been to become the best to ever do it, and that means taking out the best to ever do it. After Harrison's title-winning second-round submission of Julianna Peña this past Saturday, she went face-to-face in the Octagon with her old American Top Team teammate, soon-to-be UFC Hall of Famer Amanda Nunes. The consensus greatest female fighter of all time, Nunes is expected to come out of retirement to attempt to reclaim her throne against the new UFC bantamweight champion.
'She's been saying that she wants to fight, she's been saying that she's going to come back, she wants to face the winner [of UFC 316's title fight], and I wanted to make that a certainty," Harrison said on Uncrowned's "The Ariel Helwani Show." "So I asked her to come into the cage — and again, no hard feelings, no bad blood, no ill will. I don't have anything bad to say about Amanda. But I want to be the best. A lot of people think she's the best. So, here we are.'
Harrison and Nunes' careers intersected at ATT from the moment the former began training MMA in 2016. Nunes eventually left the gym around the time of her loss to Peña in late 2021, but the pair never trained together regularly. Harrison said she still isn't sure why that was. She's only heard through the grapevine that Nunes may have found it weird with Harrison's talent level and potential UFC future.
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From the beginning, however, Harrison knew Nunes was a fight she eventually wanted.
'Amanda's very talented. She's got a lot of God-given gifts," Harrison said. "I wasn't her coach. I don't know why we didn't train together. I made myself readily available. Any time she needed anything, I was there like a little punching bag, training dummy, and eager to help. And also learn and grow from her. So I'm not sure, I think that was Amanda's choice.
'I came down to visit [ATT]. I went to Jersey, I went to Vegas, I came here, and I sparred with her on day two. I think pretty much right after that, I was like, 'This is it. This is where I'm going to go.'
'[The session] went good. She kicked my ass, but one of us stopped after two rounds.'
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Harrison represents Nunes' first fight since "The Lionness" retired off the heels of a successful unanimous decision title defense against Irene Aldana in June 2023. The 37-year-old former two-division UFC champion appears to have only one hang-up regarding the speed of her return, as far as Harrison knows, and that would be Nunes' status in the UFC's drug-testing pool.
Now operating under Drug Free Sport International following a 2023 split with USADA, the UFC's testing pool formerly required a six-month testing period before a fighter could compete. It's unknown if that window applies to DFSI, but Harrison is ultimately open to making the fight happen whenever possible.
'I think she has to get back in the drug-testing pool," Harrison said. "I don't know how long that takes. I know that, hopefully, there's going to be a lot of contract changes being made [to my UFC deal].
'I want Amanda to be her absolute best self. Whatever she's comfortable with [as far as a timeline and weight class]. I want the two best fighters in the world to step in that cage and to leave it all out there and put on a hell of a fight for the world to see, and to bring women's MMA to a whole new level, and may the best woman win.'
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The biggest concern ahead of Harrison's bantamweight title fight was arguably her making the 135-pound championship weight, something she had yet to do in her previous two UFC appearances. While she hit the mark successfully, it was extremely difficult. Considering that Nunes is also a former UFC champion of the 145-pound featherweight division, Harrison expressed a willingness to meet her at that weight as well, though ultimately she's game for whichever weight class the promotion prefers for the bout.
Harrison, 34, is unsure how many more times she can make 135 pounds without endangering her health, but it'll be mandatory if she wants to reign over the division and add to her legacy. As great as beating Nunes would be, holding that UFC title can't be replicated in the legendary judoka's eyes.
'It's not good. I don't really know how else to explain it," Harrison said of her weight cuts to the bantamweight limit. "I don't think anyone can really understand that process unless they have gone through it. I've been talking about it a lot this week especially, but it's because it's the truth — I am not mentally strong enough to do that. God did that. I did want to quit, and I didn't want to be there anymore, and I was like, 'Why? What am I doing?' But God had other plans.
'For 15 weeks I'm on a diet, and I only eat what my chef gives to me. If I get really crazy urges or cravings, I'll have a spoon of peanut butter. I think I did that three times during the camp. Fourteen weeks out, I start walking. So every single day, I walk six miles. I bike for two hours, or I swim for like an hour and a half. On Sunday, I usually walk eight. So that's like 14 weeks on top of the two other training sessions I do a day, then in the morning I'm going live, hard, either sparring or grappling. At night, I'm drilling.
"Then, six weeks out, I start heat acclimation, so I'm in the sauna for an hour by myself. Usually at night because that's the only time I have to do it after I put my kids to bed. So I'm just sitting in the sauna thinking about how I'm going to have to do that on June 6, and how much it's going to suck. It's really hard, and I just have to keep telling myself it's chosen suffering, and that it'll be worth it.'