The UFC Women’s featherweight champ – and recently deposed bantamweight champ – Amanda Nunes still wants to fight Kayla Harrison. It’s more personal than ever, as Nunes revealed on the Trocação Franca podcast that she felt that Harrison pushed her out of her gym at American Top Team.
“There’s that saying, like it or lump it. I was bothered by the whole situation, of course.There were no girls when I got to American Top Team. I was the first woman to bring two belts and put the women’s team in history. When Kayla got there and then Kunitskaya, it began creating a weird situation for me because that was my territory.
Amanda Nunes Reveals That Kayla Harrison Pushed Her Out of ATT
Other bantamweights were coming. Kunitskaya, who was already at the top and could’ve been a future opponent with a win over Ketlen [Vieira in 2021]. She got there right, when she was close to becoming the next opponent. She showed up in the gym and I had a scare when I walked in. I was like, ‘No, it’s not possible.’ It was creating this situation already.
And then Kayla started talking. I was kind of, ‘Man, I’m not safe even in my territory.’ I was kind of cornered, even because we share the same coaches. She trains with Mike Brown and I train with Mike Brown. I was already training with them when she got there.”
When Harrison started calling Nunes out, despite Kayla Harrison still calling PFL home, rather than the UFC where Nunes fights, it made things too uncomfortable in the gym. Harrison recently ended her PFL contract, and rumors of a clash between the two giants of women’s MMA abounded, but Kayla ultimately returned to the PFL. There’s still plenty of bad blood, if you ask Amanda Nunes.
“If there’s someone that carries the name of the team, that’s me, who brought two belts [to ATT]. If I wasn’t who I really am, a champion in two divisions, cool, no problem. But I was the champion already. She would have to train somewhere else to fight me.
But then she ended up signing [with PFL] again. It’s not a fight I didn’t want. If the opportunity is there and she wants it, cool, I’m in. A fighter needs challenges, people that talk about you and want to fight you.” Do you think we’ll ever get to see Nunes vs Harrison? Let us know what you think in the comments.
