Current Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) women’s Bantamweight champion, Kayla Harrison, will be gearing up to defend her title against former division queen, Amanda Nunes, who is returning from retirement to take part in the mega-fight in the co-main event of UFC 334 on Sat., Nov. 14, 2026 in Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Having just turned 36 years old and spending the majority of her life competing in highly-competitive combat sports, Harrison knows the clock is ticking on her UFC career. During a discussion on the “Deep Waters” podcast with fellow UFC stars Chris Weidman, Dustin Poirier, and Jorge Masvidal, the champ revealed that it won’t be too much longer before she hangs her gloves up her good to focus more on other aspects of her life.
“Not long. 100-percent until the wheels fall off, but…four surgeries in four years, the wheels are a little wobbly boys” joked Harrison. “Yeah, not much longer. I am also ready to, dude I have not been on a date in like five years. I am a single mom with two kids, I home school them, I train, I just do not have any free time, so I’d would like to meet someone.”
Harrison has racked up perhaps one the most impressive combat careers in women’s combat sports, which includes winning back-to-back Gold medals at the 2012 and 2016 Olympic games in judo. Not to mention the countless of medals she won in other tournaments all over the planet the years prior.
Two year after winning her last Gold medal at the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Harrison made her pro MMA debut under the now-defunct PFL banner where she went on to rack up a 15-1 record, winning two tournament titles along the way.
She eventually went on to join the UFC ranks in 2024, defeating Holly Holm in her debut fight at UFC 300. After defeating Ketlen Vieira in her sophomore fight, she went on to defeate Juliana Pena to win the women’s 135-pound strap, adding yet more hardware to her already-crowded trophy case.
She was set to face Nunes at UFC 324 earlier this year before she bowed out of the event to undergo neck surgery, one of the many medical procedures she has had to go throughout her competitive career. Now, Harrison is gearing up to return to face “Lioness” in one of the biggest fights in women’s MMA history. With a win, the Judo expert pads her resume even more, and leaves her with one less big name to fight before she calls it a career.
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