Much like how she dominated the Olympics en route to two gold medals, Kayla Harrison has long desired to be considered the absolute best in the world when it comes to her fighting career.
Harrison doesn’t want to just win championships, she want to retire as the greatest fighter in the history of the sport, and she knows there are still a lot of obstacles left to hurdle before she can earn that distinction. Perhaps the fastest path to her goal would be winning a UFC title and then welcoming former champion Amanda Nunes back to the competition after “The Lioness” teased a potential return from retirement. Nunes called it a career in 2023, retiring with UFC bantamweight and featherweight titles still on her shoulders.
While they were once teammates under the same coaches at American Top Team in Florida, Harrison knows beating Nunes would add a huge accolade to her record and it’s a challenge she welcomes.
“Selfishly, I hope that she does [return],” Harrison told MMA Fighting. “I have no beef with Amanda other than her trying to throw American Top Team under the bus. Don’t f*ck with my homies.
“But listen if she’s happy and living her dream, that’s great but selfishly, I would love for her to come back so I can put all the noise to rest.”
In her final two fights in the UFC, Nunes avenged a past loss to Julianna Peña to reclaim her bantamweight title and then ran roughshod over Irene Aldana in what was ultimately Nunes’ final appearance with the promotion.
The Peña rematch came seven months after Nunes suffered a shocking upset loss to the “Venezuelan Vixen.” Nunes surrendered her UFC title after being submitted via rear-naked choke in the second round. That was the first time Nunes had faced defeat in six years. Things went much differently in the second fight, with Nunes brutally punishing Peña for five rounds before winning a lopsided decision, with one judge giving Nunes a 50-43 scorecard.
In the long run, Harrison hopes she gets the chance to beat both of them but she acknowledges that as much as Peña deserves credit for her win, she still considers Nunes the better fighter and the bigger addition to her resume.
“I’m never going to take that win away from Julianna,” Harrison said. “It was her night. Kudos to her. Lightning rarely strikes the same place twice. I think that Amanda is the better fighter and who knows what happened. I’m excited to see how Julianna looks in this fight [against Raquel Pennington] — if she makes it to the fight.”
While Harrison has lofty plans for her future, none of that happens if she slips up in her next fight against Ketlen Vieira at UFC 307. That’s why every conversation about the title, Nunes, or anybody else ends up with Harrison once again bringing up Vieira’s name as the only one that matters right now.
“We’ll see what happens,” Harrison said. “I’m focused on Ketlen Vieira, Oct. 5, UFC 307, 135 pounds, one step closer to the goal.
“One step at a time. Ketlen first, then the title and then Amanda if she wants some.”
