As Kayla Harrison prepares to face Amanda Nunes in the UFC 334 co-main event, a lot of the focus for the fight is going to center around them previously training together at American Top Team and even sharing the same coaches at times.
But Mike Brown, who previously coached Nunes and has served as Harrison’s head coach since the first day she stepped foot in the gym, says that narrative is really being blown out of proportion. While Brown knows that Harrison and Nunes crossed paths from time to time, they were never that close long before they were scheduled to compete for the women’s bantamweight championship.
“It’s a big gym,” Brown told MMA Fighting. “There’s a lot of training partners. They weren’t training partners that often. Very seldom.”
Of course, Brown gets pulled into that conversation a lot because he did coach both fighters but even that doesn’t really cause a conflict of interest. At least in his book.
“I have a job,” Brown explained. “I work for Kayla and I work for ATT. That’s my job. I trained with Amanda, but I was never her official head coach. But I did work with her for a handful of fights.
“But this is business. It’s a big fight, and they’re both going to make a bunch of money and everyone is in a good situation.”
Now Brown obviously has an intimate knowledge about the good, the bad and the ugly working with both fighters but even that doesn’t necessarily serve as an advantage.
Nunes left American Top Team, and effectively started her own gym, and that’s continued as she prepares for her comeback from retirement. But Brown knows that Harrison and Nunes both have enough footage out there that the strategy come Saturday night isn’t going to be some revolutionary change from what each has done in the past.
“I think they both each other’s strengths and weaknesses,” Brown said. “Amanda’s a big power puncher and everyone knows that. Kayla is a world class grappler and a multiple world champion, a world champion in judo, so there’s no secrets in what each fighter’s going to want to do.
“I don’t think you would have had to coach them to figure that out. I think everyone knows what everyone wants to do here. It comes down to who can implement their game plan.”
Since the day she started in the sport, Harrison has long talked about defining her legacy by becoming the greatest of all-time.
With two Olympic gold medals in judo along with a UFC championship and several PFL championships, Harrison could already make a compelling argument as the greatest combat sports athlete in history.
That said, Brown acknowledges that Nunes’ accolades are undeniable and adding that win to her resume should help separate Harrison from any past competition when it comes to that greatest of all-time conversation.
“I believe so just because of her track record,” Brown said about Harrison. “Her near perfect record. Amanda’s beaten every champion I believe at 135 except for Kayla. She’s beat every champ that’s ever been at the weight. That’s pretty damn impressive except for Kayla. Obviously, she’s done more in the sport than Kayla, but Kayla’s record is near perfect. One blemish with [Larissa] Pacheco in their third fight. She had beat her twice before that.
“She’s clearly head and shoulders above the competition. She also has a very high finish rate I would consider her the greatest of all-time if she wins this fight.”
