“Make me the greatest of all time,” Kayla Harrison on Reaching GOAT Status Against Amanda Nunes
The biggest women’s bantamweight title fight in recent memory is locked in for January 24 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Kayla Harrison will defend her newly won championship against Amanda Nunes in the co-main event of UFC 324, which marks the UFC’s debut on Paramount+.
Kayla Harrison vs. Amanda Nunes
Harrison claimed the 135-pound belt in June at UFC 316 when she submitted Julianna Peña with a kimura in the second round, earning a Performance of the Night bonus in the process. The victory capped her rapid ascent through the UFC bantamweight ranks. She’d debuted just three fights earlier, submitting Holly Holm at UFC 300 before decisioning Ketlen Vieira to land a title shot in record time.
Nunes, meanwhile, emerges from nearly two and a half years of retirement to take on her former American Top Team teammate. The 37-year-old last competed in June 2023, when she retained the bantamweight title against Irene Aldana before stepping away from competition. She was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame this past summer and indicated at UFC 316, where she watched Harrison’s coronation from cageside, that her return was coming.
The Brazilian legend’s resume speaks for itself. She holds the longest winning streak in UFC women’s history at 12 fights, accumulated 10 finishes as a UFC fighter, and became the first woman to hold two UFC titles simultaneously when she knocked out Cris Cyborg in 2018. Her wins over Ronda Rousey, Holly Holm, Raquel Pennington, Germaine De Randamie, and others have shaped women’s MMA for over a decade.
GOAT
In a recent interview with Bloody Elbow’s Kyle Diamond, Harrison addressed whether defeating Nunes and then Valentina Shevchenko, the flyweight champion, would cement her legacy as the women’s greatest fighter ever. When asked directly, Harrison said:
“Yes, I think that will make me the greatest of all time for a finite period, you know, like a finite period of time. And then the next Amanda, the next Valentina, the next Kayla will come and stand on my shoulders. You know, like there are so many women whose shoulders that I am standing on right now. I think Joanna is one of the greatest of all time. You know, like there, it’s subjective. And my goal, yes, my goal is to hit that mark – for maybe a day, maybe a week, maybe a month, who knows? But yeah, I just want to see how far I can go.”
The comment reveals Harrison’s understanding of how MMA legacies develop. She acknowledges the cyclical nature of the sport, where each generation builds on the last. She’s standing on the shoulders of fighters who came before, and future competitors will eventually surpass whatever she accomplishes.
Harrison carries an 19-1 MMA record into UFC 324, with her sole loss coming to Larissa Pacheco in 2022 via five-round decision. Before joining the UFC last January, she won two PFL lightweight championships and built an impressive resume in the promotion. The 35-year-old American has made the difficult drop from 155 pounds to 135 pounds for every UFC appearance, though she’s mentioned the weight cut takes a toll.
Nunes holds a 23-5 overall MMA record with a 16-2 mark in the UFC. Both of her UFC losses came in Las Vegas, and UFC 324 will mark her 10th appearance in the city. Harrison will fight there for the second time.
The fight itself carries massive intrigue beyond the title at stake. These two fighters trained together at American Top Team before Nunes left the gym. When Nunes entered the octagon after Harrison’s UFC 316 victory, she pointed at the new champion and said she knew this matchup was coming.
