Former two-time Olympic gold medal in Judo, former two-time PFL lightweight champion and newly crowned UFC bantamweight queen Kayla Harrison wants to be considered the greatest of all time.
Harrison added the UFC bantamweight belt to her trophy case last Saturday, defeating former two-time titleholder Julianna Pena via submission in the UFC 316 co-main event.
Sitting cage-side was former two-time bantamweight champion and multiple division titleholder Amanda Nunes. Nunes and Harrison used to be teammates and training partners at American Top Team. In anticipation that the two might cross paths inside the octagon, Nunes left the gym because Harrison trained there. Following Harrison’s UFC 316 championship win, Nunes entered the octagon and the two faced off.
Nunes is unanimously considered the greatest female mixed martial artist to ever grace the octagon. She retired in 2023 to focus on motherhood. She’s now ready to return and reportedly training twice a day. Nunes once held the 135-pound title and the 145-pound championship simultaneously. For Harrison to be considered the GOAT, she has to beat the GOAT.
Interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall believes Harrison will beat “The Lioness” when the two eventually meet inside the cage.
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“To me, Kayla Harrison just looks like she’s going to reign at the top of the division for a long time,” Aspinall said on his YouTube channel. “I do think she’ll beat Nunes.”
“When we were at UFC 300, she looked fantastic against Holly Holm. Not only that, what we could see, and people on the TV won’t know this obviously, we were in a VIP box that was miles up in the air,” Aspinall said. “Honestly, you could see the definition on her shoulders and biceps from the VIP box which was like up in the nose-bleeds area. She is absolutely jacked.”
“I think that strong base that she’s got is too much for most girls. It’s unbelievable top pressure, unbelievable base. Her striking is coming on as well. She understands the range,” continued Aspinall.
“If she gets close to you, if she gets anywhere near you, you’re going on your back. It’s as simple as that, and you’re not going be able to shift her off of you. She’s on top, she’s like an immovable object. Her base is so, so unbelievable for a, not even just for a female, just for a combat athlete. Once she’s on top, she’s just staying there. And it’s really, really difficult to get her off.”
