If Harrison wins, she hopes to be part of the UFC card scheduled for this summer on the grounds of the White House in front of President Donald Trump, a huge fight fan.
Harrison has said she wants flyweight queen Valentina Shevchenko to be her challenger.
But first Harrison, 35, must defeat Nunes, a former champion and 2025 UFC Hall of Fame inductee.
There is much intrigue surrounding this fight. It will be part of the promotion’s debut event on Paramount+ in January.
Nunes has invited Larissa Pacheco — the only woman to beat Harrison in MMA — to be part of her next training camp.
“She’s ready,” Pacheco told the media. “In terms of adjustments, everything, there’s nothing more to say. I’m not going to talk strategy because I can’t, but she’s ready, man. What I’ve felt from her… I can say this: I’ve felt Kayla’s energy before, and now I’ve felt Amanda’s. She’s ready. That fight is hers, without a doubt. She’s walking out with the win.”
Pacheco fought Harrison three times inside the Professional Fighters League cage. Harrison won the first two fights in 2019, ending the year as PFL champion and 7-0 in the sport.
Three years later, Pacheco beat Harrison for the PFL belt, her only professional loss.
Harrison and Nunes have trained together occasionally at American Top Team in Florida.
Then Harrison’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz, has asked the UFC to have a backup fighter because he doesn’t believe Nunes will be ready.
“Kayla runs through her like a truck,” Abdelaziz told a radio station. “I don’t know if Amanda will show up. That’s why I was asking the UFC, ‘Please have a backup.’ I don’t know if she will actually make the weight, make the cut. It’s really hard, especially when you make a whole bunch of money.”
Earlier this year, after spending two years in retirement, Nunes announced that she would be returning to the UFC.
Credit: Michael D. Pitman
Credit: Michael D. Pitman
“She is coming back because she missed the attention,” Abdelaziz said. “She is not getting attention anywhere else, and she hates that Kayla is getting all the attention that she used to.”
His prediction for the fight?
“(Harrison) is an absolute savage, man,” he said. “And I think if Amanda shows up — and I doubt it — it’s not gonna be good.”
Harrison has said her ultimate goal is being called “the greatest female fighter of all time.”
Earlier this year, Harrison dominated 135-pound champion Julianna Peña and forced her to quit late in the second round to win the championship at the Prudential Center in only her third UFC fight.
Harrison attended Middletown City Schools, then moved out of the state to continue her judo training that led to gold medals in the 2012 and 2016 Olympics.
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