After her victory over Holly Holm at UFC 300, Kayla Harrison responded to former UFC champ Amanda Nunes‘ social media post, expressing surprise at Nunes’ potential comeback and hinting at a possible future fight between them.
Just this past Saturday, Kayla Harrison barely had time to step out of the octagon at T-Mobile Arena. Immediately, a flurry of cell phones were thrust in her face, all displaying the same social media post.
The question on everyone’s lips was, “Did you see this?”
The post in question? It was from Amanda Nunes, ex-two-division UFC champ. She’d snapped a selfie video while Harrison was giving her victory speech after a commanding win over Holly Holm at UFC 300. Nunes seemed to anticipate a callout from Harrison, and was let down when her name wasn’t mentioned. Later, she posted a graphic showcasing her long list of victims, captioned “The GOAT.”
“I expected her to chat,” Harrison admitted on The MMA Hour on Monday. “I thought she and one other person would [chirp].”
That other person? Cris Cyborg. She almost booked a fight with Harrison in the PFL. But the fight never happened. Harrison signed with the UFC, so most of their fighting was done over the internet. Cyborg piggybacked on Nunes’ message, calling for the winner of the fight. This was impossible given her PFL contract and dramatic exit from the UFC.
Nunes was a more intriguing development. Harrison had thought “The Lioness” was retired, hence no callout after beating Holm.
“She’s been retired for a while now,” Harrison said. “If Amanda was still here, and she was holding the belt, then I would have been calling for Amanda Nunes. But I thought she was happily retired and living her best life.”
But with Nunes hinting at a comeback, Harrison’s UFC career could take a turn. She is clearly a top contender after defeating Holm. However, a title fight between current bantamweight champ Raquel Pennington and ex-champ Julianna Pena is expected later this year. If Nunes does return to fight the winner, that could delay Harrison’s title campaign possibly a year.
Or could it?
“I heard ‘Rocky’ is hurt all of a sudden, so if she can’t fight right now, I’m happy to fight whoever this summer,” Harrison said.
Pennington didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from MMA Fighting. But Pena recently echoed Harrison, saying her expected title shot against Pennington could be delayed until October.
What does this all mean? Anything is possible for Harrison’s future. She likes the idea of an interim title fight with Pena at UFC 303 on June 29.
“And then I’ll end up unifying it and fight Amanda,” she said.
If Harrison does end up fighting Nunes, her former teammate at American Top Team, she said there will be plenty of promotional ammunition. The two shared training space for several years as she transitioned from judo to MMA and Nunes dominated the UFC’s bantamweight and featherweight divisions.
In early 2022, Nunes abruptly left ATT, and speculation immediately pointed to Harrison as one of the causes.
Harrison, of course, can’t speak for Nunes, but she acknowledges that somewhere along the line, they became rivals instead of colleagues.
“Amanda’s worst enemy is her own mind,” Harrison said. “I think that Amanda’s worst enemy is her own mind. She got it in her head that I was coming for her. I think after she lost to Juliana, she thought that I was going to get in the cage and challenge her, which was not true, not the case, not even near true. She thought that everyone at the team was against her. Again, not true, not the case. Everyone on the team was doing their best to keep us in separate organizations, even though I wanted to go [from the PFL to the UFC] then; I was like, ‘I’m out, let’s go.’ I think they were still a 145 [division in the UFC]. I was like, ‘Come on, let’s do this.’
“So I think it just left a bad taste in her own mind. She just had this not true image of what was happening behind the scenes, and she didn’t really ask anybody, she just kind of assumed, and then she left, and I have no ill will toward Amanda. I think she’s great. She’s the GOAT for a reason. She’s awesome. I don’t think that the bad mouthing that she’s done about my team is fair or appropriate, and I don’t respect that, and I have personal beef with that, but other than that… .”
Harrison isn’t sure whether she’ll end up fighting Nunes, or Pena, or Pennington next. Her top priority is capturing the UFC title. If she also managed to defeat the GOAT, that could hurt either.
But yes, she’s gotten Nunes’ message, loud and clear. Whether they end up meeting later this year, next year, or not at all, she’s ready to prove she’s a better fighter than anyone, past or present.