Some storylines just write themselves. That’s the case with newly crowned UFC women’s bantamweight champion Kayla Harrison and former multi-division titleholder Amanda Nunes.
Harrison captured the women’s 135-pound championship last Saturday in the UFC 316 co-main event, defeating former two-time titleholder Julianna Pena via submission in the second round. Nunes was watching octagon side and entered the cage following the fight to face-off with Harrison.
Nunes is pretty much unanimously considered the greatest female mixed martial artist to ever grace the octagon. She retired in 2023 to focus on motherhood. She’s now ready to return and reportedly training twice a day. Nunes once held the 135-pound title and the 145-pound championship simultaneously. Harrison is willing to fight “The Lioness” in either weight class.
“I’m open to fight to (145 or 135). I just want to fight. I just want to fight. I definitely want to fight Amanda,” Harris said a the UFC 316 Post-Fight Press Conference. “She’s the greatest of all time. I want to be the greatest of all time. I’ve wanted that for a long time now. It’s not personal. There’s no bad blood. I don’t care what weight we fight at.”
Harrison and Nunes used to be teammates and training partners at American Top Team but Nunes left the gym in 2022 in anticipation of the two eventually crossing paths inside the octagon. Her intuition was correct and Harrison is willing to give the Brazilian as much time as she needs to prepare considering Nunes has been out of the sport for two years.
“I’m going to give Amanda as much time as she needs to prepare. I want her to be her best her. I’m going to be the best me. We’re going to go in there and make some absolute magic in the women’s division,” Harrison said. “We’re going to break some records and make some history and we’re going to make a lot of money doing it. We’re going to bring women’s MMA to a whole new level.”
When asked if she had a preferred location to face Nunes, Harrison said, “I’d fight her on Mars. I don’t care.”
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