Kayla Harrison sees the light at the end of the tunnel. Two months after neck surgery interrupted her big fight with Amanda Nunes, Harrison has a path to resume training.
Harrison was preparing to defend the UFC women’s bantamweight title against Nunes at UFC 324, the promotion’s debut on Paramount+. Unfortunately, Harrison was forced off the card two weeks out with herniated disks in her neck. Now, out of surgery and on the mend, Harrison is working toward a comeback.
“I look like a real assassin now,” Harrison told Jorge Masvidal and Chris Duncan, the latter of whom headlines this Saturday’s UFC Fight Night, on the “Death Row MMA” podcast. “I look like someone tried to get me, but they failed.”
The Olympic judoka will resume training in the next few weeks, pending the results of a CT scan. A healthy reading is the only obstacle between Harrison and sparring.
“I think I’m gonna have a CT scan like next week, and if all looks good, then I’m allowed to start drilling,” Harrison said. “I think a couple of weeks after that, I’ll be back to sparring.”
Harrison and Nunes are expected to rebook their planned title match from earlier this year. Nunes, widely considered the greatest women’s fighter in mixed martial arts, had planned to come back from a near three-year-long retirement to challenge Harrison.
“Mami soon come,” Harrison said.
