Kayla Harrison is arguably the most popular bantamweight on the UFC roster since Amanda Nunes, and Norma Dumont hopes Harrison can entice Nunes to un-retire by winning the 135-pound title in 2025.
Raquel Pennington currently sits at the top of the bantamweight mountain after claiming the vacant title with a win over Mayra Bueno Silva earlier this year and defends it next versus Julianna Peña in the co-main event of UFC 307 on Oct. 5. Harrison is 1-0 in the promotion after dominating Holly Holm, and might get a title shot if she beats Ketlen Vieira on the same card.
Dumont was successful in her bantamweight debut by beating former 145-pound champion Germaine de Randamie via decision, her fourth straight victory inside the octagon, and faces Irene Aldana this weekend at UFC 306 at Sphere in Las Vegas. Dumont laments the fact the weight class lacks star power.
“Holly isn’t that much of a complicated prey anymore,” Dumont said in an interview with MMA Fighting. “That doesn’t mean she’s an easy fight, but she’s not a big reward anymore. Pennington was never a big prize either. She’s a solid athlete, but she’s not spectacular in any area. Julianna doesn’t convince anyone — everybody knows that. Kayla Harrison is the only one left, really. Kayla Harrison really is the big prize because she’s a solid athlete.”
Dumont doesn’t see the former PFL champion as an unstoppable force in the division despite her dominant debut.
“She sucks on the feet, she doesn’t even know how to walk in the octagon, but her grappling is absurdly absurd,” Dumont said of the two-time Olympic gold medalist in judo. “You have someone that is absurd in one area, so you have to completely nullify that aspect of her game, and that makes it an interesting fight. Her head is the biggest prize right now, the lottery ticket of the division, so I hope she wins the belt and I take it from her.”
Dumont also hopes that having Harrison as UFC champion convinces Amanda Nunes to end her retirement. “The Lioness” walked away as two-division champion back in June of 2023, and seemed annoyed that Harrison didn’t call out her after beating Holm in her first UFC appearance. Nunes told MMA Fighting back in 2022 that part of her decision to leave American Top Team was due to Harrison being on her “territory” at ATT.
“I think Amanda is torn on coming back,” Dumont said. “It’s hard for us athletes to retire, especially a young and physically fit woman like her. I think [her return] depends on who wins the belt. I think she might have something personal with Kayla and she wouldn’t accept seeing Kayla Harrison with the belt. But you have to take in consideration for how long she’s out, which makes it harder for a return. We can’t underestimate that.”
“In my opinion, I don’t think Amanda returns,” she continued. “I don’t know if Amanda wants it anymore. From the bottom of my heart, I want her to come back, because then we would have two big prizes in the division. To become one of the greats, I need big prizes. I can’t just beat a bunch of nobodies. Amanda beat up the entire division but only became a star when she knocked out Cris Cyborg. Kayla Harrison can win the belt today but people will say she wouldn’t do it if Amanda was still around, and that sucks for the athlete.”
The official UFC bantamweight rankings currently have Julianna Peña, Ketlen Vieira, Kayla Harrison, Macy Chiasson and Irene Aldana in the top-5 in that order, with Dumont currently sitting at No. 9. The top 15 also includes names like Chelsea Chandler, who is yet to successfully make 135 pounds in the UFC.
“I’m being absolutely honest here,” Dumont said, “I really hoped that Cris could make weight, that [Larissa] Pacheco could make weight, and Amanda came back, so we could form an absurd division that the champion could definitively say, ‘That’s it, I’m the f*cking best.’
“Anyway, I’ll just have to do a great job with what I have in front of me. We still have tough athletes. Irene is one of them, Macy is one of them, and so are Ketlen, Pennington and Kayla Harrison. I would only get Julianna out of there because she’s just median, but the other ones are tough. We have difficult opponents, but we don’t have big names.”
