It has just been announced that the current women’s bantamweight champion, Kayla Harrison, cannot fight at UFC 324 due to a surgery required on her neck. She was scheduled to fight the women’s MMA GOAT, Amanda Nunes, who came out of retirement just for this fight. This comes at an awful time, as the UFC is just days away from making its switch over to Paramount+ and starting a new era for the company. The anticipation for this card is massive, and now one of the premier fights and maybe one of the greatest women’s fights of all time has been cancelled. The fight will happen, but it is being postponed as of right now.
It is being reported that Harrison has herniated discs in her neck that need surgical intervention to repair. This could sideline Harrison for a while and leave Nunes without an opponent. There has been no confirmation whether they will try to find a new opponent fast for Nunes or whether they just completely abandon the fight altogether. All fans know is that two of the best women’s fighters ever won’t get to square off until later down the line. Amanda Nunes has destroyed pretty much everyone she has ever faced and is recognized as the greatest female fighter. Harrison, on the other hand, is a world-renowned Judo artist and has made her case for being an all-time great as well with what she has done in her career.
The fight is so compelling because these are two fighters who can match each other’s physicality and skill and have not faced each other yet. Nunes has faced and beaten everyone whom she has gone against, and no one has been on her level. That was until Kayla Harrison burst onto the scene. She is 19-1 in her career and has dominated all of her opponents. Her grappling is among the best in the UFC, and once she gets hold of you, good luck escaping. She won the bantamweight championship in her last fight with the dismantling of Juliana Pena in just two rounds. Unfortunately, this matchup will have to wait with Harrison’s surgery, but surely these two will eventually face each other in the octogon and it is likely soon.
