NEW YORK (AP) — Kayla Harrison draped her left arm around a member of her team and gingerly walked out of the octagon a winner, a champion — but with a major career decision ahead.
Harrison, a former MMA champion at 155 pounds, endured the arduous, often unhealthy process of cutting to 135 pounds for her dream fight against Amanda Nunes.
The 36-year-old Harrison also fought Saturday for the first time in 18 months following spinal fusion surgery in January
for a neck injury that delayed this anticipated fight until UFC 334 at Madison Square Garden. She said she even might have suffered a broken foot in the fight.
How much more can Harrison — a two-time Olympic judo gold medalist — push herself to prove what, exactly?
“I am going to go back and talk to my team,” Harrison said. “I'm going to take my time and be with my kids. Get through the holidays. I get to have the holidays with my kids and actually eat and not be sweaty or hungry.”
With a resume that already has her in the UFC Hall of Fame, Nunes may be considered the greatest female fighter of all time.
Harrison staked her claim as the best of right now.
Harrison (20-1) can state that after she choked out Nunes in the fourth round in the co-main event and made the most of her first title defense at 135 pounds.
(Ciryl Gane successfully defended his heavyweight championship, sweeping the scorecards 48-47 over the five-round fight to win a unanimous decision and beat Josh Hokit in the main event of UFC 334 ).
Nunes (23-6) tried to wrestle with Harrison and ended the first two rounds flat on her back. Harrison landed a series of short punches and elbows to the head that seemed to tire her out, the weight cut wearing her out as much as they damaged Nunes.
Harrison — who walked out to “Eye of the Tiger” while the fighter better known as the “Lioness” stretched and bounced on her tiptoes ahead of Bruce Buffer’s introductions — wasted no time in the fourth round. Harrison grabbed Nunes by her right leg and tripped her to the canvas. Harrison pounced on Nunes’ back and applied the rear naked choke hold. Nunes quickly tapped to the astonishment of 19,740 fans at a sold-out MSG.
“I think I’m still in shock,” Harrison said.
Despite the anguish of injuries accumulated throughout her decorated mixed martial arts career, Harrison could still see the light. She had a reason to keep rehabbing: not only to make it to the biggest fight of her career, but to compete in a matchup that stood as one of the most hyped women’s fights in UFC history.
She’s used to proving she’s a champion at the highest level, from the Olympics to the cage, leaving only destruction in her wake.
No U.S. judoka — man or woman — had won an Olympic gold medal before Harrison beat Britain’s Gemma Gibbons in the women’s 78-kilogram-and-under division at the 2012 London Olympics. She won gold again four years later at the Rio de Janeiro Games and made her MMA debut in 2018.
Through it all, Harrison has been open about the years of physical and mental abuse inflicted by a former coach leading into the Olympics. She was victimized as a teen, revealing she even thought of quitting judo and of taking her own life. Harrison turned to her deep faith — “I trust God” — that has steadied her along the way, and she wrote a book about recognizing and overcoming trauma.
She raised the issue in her championship interview with announcer Joe Rogan in large part because she has turned into an advocate for survivors of abuse. Harrison speaks out candidly and without shame about her experience.
“Sometimes I can't believe my life,” Harrison said. “I was sexually abused at a young age and statistically, I'm not supposed to be here. So to go from that, if you told me at 6 years old this would be my life, at 16 years old, this would be my life, I wouldn't believe you. I'm just grateful.”
Harrison and Nunes were once training partners at American Top Team. Harrison was new to professional MMA in 2018 after her Olympic career ended and believed she had found a friend and a mentor in camp with Nunes. Nunes, already an established star, saw Harrison as a future star and rival and kept her distance from the hot new prospect who seemed destined for MMA stardom.
“I feel grateful for Amanda,” Harrison said. “She's a worthy opponent.”
Nunes bolted from the cage and could head back into retirement. She retired in 2023, citing burnout and a desire to spend more time with her wife as they raised their two young daughters.
Her legacy as one of the best to ever do it remains secure.
Harrison might not catch Nunes in terms of career accomplishments.
She doesn’t have to. She has the win.
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