Kayla Harrison is still in celebration mode after becoming champion with a dominant second-round submission finish over Julianna Peña at UFC 316 but her focus will soon shift directly to a showdown with former teammate Amanda Nunes.
Immediately after she had the title wrapped around her waist, Harrison called for Nunes to join her in the cage where they first embraced and then shared a faceoff for what is already being touted as possibly the biggest fight in women’s MMA history. While the timing for the fight hasn’t been determined because Nunes is coming out of retirement—which requires her to undergo six months of drug testing as part of the UFC’s anti-doping program—Harrison is staying patient because she knows the magnitude of this matchup.
She also made it clear there’s no personal animosity with this fight, although the narrative is already being built that they were once training partners at American Top Team and Nunes openly stated this past weekend she left the gym specifically to avoid a potential conflict with Harrison.
“I mean at first I thought she left because she lost [to Peña] but why would she say that if she didn’t mean it?” Harrison told MMA Fighting after hearing Nunes’ comments. “I guess from what I have heard and am coming to understand, I went to that fight. I was in the stands the night Julianna beat Amanda and I think that she had this misunderstanding — I think she thought I was going to do what she did on Saturday. I think she thought I was going to get in the cage and challenge her.
“So to her, I was kind of going behind her back and stuff but it’s not true. Obviously, I didn’t sign with UFC and I stayed with the PFL. It was not even close to being true. Maybe that’s why she left, I’m not really sure and it doesn’t matter. I know that I’ve carried myself accordingly.”
Nunes called American Top Team home for a huge part of her career, but split with the Florida based gym following a loss to Peña in 2021, which led to Nunes starting her own facility where she now holds her training camps.
For her part, Nunes said much the same as Harrison that she holds no ill will towards her former teammate, but her exit was facilitated because “I knew this fight would happen one day” and it would be a huge conflict for the gym.
Harrison can’t get inside Nunes’ head regarding whatever decisions she made for her own career, but the two-time Olympic gold medalist holds her head high when it comes to the relationship she’s built with all of her teammates over the years.
“I know that I’ve been a good teammate,” Harrison said. “Everyone at the gym was like until she left, everyone in the gym was doing everything in their power to not let me go to the UFC. Dan [Lambert] was like ‘the money, PFL, blah, blah, blah.’
“I’ve been very patient. God’s plan is the right plan. God’s plan, God’s time, not Kayla’s time. Whatever she thinks, I’m OK with. I have peace with it because I know who I am and we’re good.”
Even when they were working under the same roof, Harrison says she never spent a lot of time actually training with Nunes so it’s not like they are best friends being broken apart by a fight.
That said, Harrison would have happily worked with Nunes because she sees many of her current teammates doing the same despite competing in the same division in promotions like the UFC and PFL.
“No we were not main training partners,” Harrison said. “We weren’t in the same promotion. We weren’t in the same weight class. I always made myself readily available. I made it very clear if ever need a drilling partner, you need a punching bag, you need anything, and Mike [Brown] knew that, Amanda knew that, everyone knew that. But we trained not a lot. That was OK.
“At that time, I guess I’m weird but to me I see Johnny Eblen and Austin [Vanderford] and Yaroslav [Amosov] and Dalton [Rosta], all these guys, all training together everyday, building each other up, leveling up, leveling up, leveling up. I see Dustin [Poirier] and Dakota Bush and Grant Dawson and [Mateusz] Gamrot and all these guys training together everyday, leveling up, leveling up. So for me, it’s like we might fight someday but let’s level the f*ck up! Let’s go! But we didn’t train a lot and I’m OK with that, that was her choice.”
In a perfect world, Harrison would eventually face Nunes in a battle between two of the greatest mixed martial artists in the world and that’s the only storyline needed to sell the fight. But Harrison knows there’s a chance things could get heated at some point and she accepts that’s part of the sport.
Still, Harrison has definitely seen gyms almost torn apart when former teammates end up battling each other. She witnessed that firsthand when Colby Covington left American Top Team and engaged in a bitter rivalry with former friend and training partner Jorge Masvidal—a situation that became so volatile they not only fought in the UFC but Masvidal was actually arrested following a street fight with Covington.
That’s the absolute last thing Harrison wants when it comes to her own fight with Nunes.
“My hope is we can do this the martial artist way and just show up and have respect and bring out the absolute best in each other,” Harrison said. “I do not want a Colby-Masvidal situation. That would suck.
“But I’m ATT till I die. Don’t f*ck with my homies. I’m an ATT girl through and through. Those are my people. I’m OK defending myself. You know I’m not shy. I’m not afraid to chirp back if I need to.”
