Kayla Harrison is again.
To begin the yr as a part of the UFC's large launch occasion on Paramount, the reigning girls's bantamweight champion Harrison was set to compete on Jan. 24 at UFC 324. Standing in her manner was former American High Crew teammate and all-time nice Amanda Nunes — that was, till a critical neck damage compelled Harrison's withdrawal and required surgical procedure and practically a full yr of restoration.
Now wholesome, Harrison is lastly good to go, and the battle has been rebooked for Nov. 14 in New York's Madison Sq. Backyard at UFC 334. Harrison, 36, admitted on Wednesday's version of ; that she wasn't certain if she would ever battle once more.
"I wasn't excellent for a really very long time, and it was a battle," Harrison instructed Uncrowned. "There have been a whole lot of moments the place I sort of questioned if this was going to be potential, and if I wanted to return to phrases with the truth that I is perhaps all performed. However I'm again."
No single incident brought on Harrison's accidents, however quite an accumulation of injury over a lifetime of fight. The 2-time Olympic gold medalist judoka revealed that she had 5 herniated discs in her neck, which she'd been coping with for fairly a while.
Finally, the ache was an excessive amount of. Harrison lastly went to get an MRI in January, revealing that two of the discs have been fully blocking nerves.
"It's flared up, and it's been unhealthy. I've kind of simply performed every little thing to have good upkeep," Harrison stated. "I didn't need to have surgical procedure, so I've performed stem cells fairly usually to attempt to fight any extra additional harm taking place. I've performed anti-inflammatories and arthritis medicine and ache capsules, and nerve ache capsules and muscle relaxers and rigorous bodily remedy.
"So it simply bought to the purpose the place, the final month, I believe all of December, I had numbness down my arm, and I couldn't really feel my three fingers, after which I began to get sort of lightning bolts. I misplaced energy in my proper arm, and I used to be in a very unhealthy spot."
Harrison recalled being on heavy doses of intense ache medicine. She even went so far as to get an epidural shot merely to numb the ache. Nothing labored, main her to see one of many UFC's specialists in New York, who knowledgeable her she was in peril of incurring everlasting harm.
It bought to some extent the place Harrison went 5 days of barely sleeping, she stated. The lightning-bolt-like pains have been so sharp, they'd wake her up randomly.
After the surgical procedure, Harrison admitted that she questioned whether or not she had lastly met her match. With how shut she’d gotten to her large superfight, that doubt solely grew worse in the course of the peak of her restoration course of.
"Clearly, I used to be devastated," Harrison stated. "I believe there's one thing to be stated about being on the one-yard line and fumbling. That's the way it felt. I used to be proper there. So shut, and I didn't get it performed.
"It was a tough tablet to swallow, but additionally I'm grateful for the workforce round me and the individuals round me who’re like, 'Pay attention, after all, we wish you to battle, however your well being is first. Do you need to have everlasting nerve harm? You need to be paralyzed? What are you speaking about? This isn't even a query. Maintain your self.’ So I'm very blessed to have the individuals round me that I’ve."
With one thing as critical as a neck damage, it nonetheless appears unimaginable that Harrison is even returning to motion inside the identical calendar yr. And never simply returning for any battle, however towards one of many sport's greatest to ever do it.
Solely a handful of months in the past did Harrison begin feeling 100% once more. She was in a restricted place, to say the least, relegated to bodily remedy neck workouts that consisted of merely wanting up and down.
Even now, Harrison nonetheless has two herniated discs left to repair as soon as she's performed competing. If she'd already mounted these too, she'd be using off into the sundown of retirement, she stated.
"I used to be in a neck brace for eight weeks," Harrison stated. "I wasn't allowed to raise greater than 20 kilos. So to go from coaching for the most important battle of my life at 100 miles per hour to that was like an enormous drop, after which the psychological facet of it that comes with that. To go to freakin’ — I imply, I don't even know. Like, I wasn't even crawling. I used to be standing fully nonetheless, and to attempt to claw my manner again to the form I'm in now, and the arrogance I’ve now — it was a really lengthy course of that I sort of needed to belief God with.
"I used to be in a whole lot of ache, nonetheless. The nerve ache went away instantly, like fast reduction, however the muscle tissue, the bone therapeutic, all of that, doing the PT — you go from sparring 5 rounds and also you're the baddest lady on the planet, to in a straight neck brace."
"I really feel like I used to be very humbled by this," she added.
Harrison hasn't fought since June 2025, when she turned the UFC girls’s bantamweight champion by submitting Julianna Peña with a second-round kimura.
That is the longest inactive stretch of Harrison's 20-fight profession (19-1) since she started in June 2018. Had Nunes not returned from her personal retirement to make this battle potential, Harrison admitted she in all probability wouldn't have come again post-surgery.
Even now, there's a world the place that is the final battle for each of the bantamweight legends.
"I imply, something is feasible," Harrison stated. "What if they provide me $10 million a battle? I'm simply saying something is feasible. I'm already glad with my profession, let's get that straight. I might stroll away tomorrow and be superb and have peace. That is for me. I would like Amanda, a worthy opponent. She brings out one of the best in me. I believe I carry out one of the best in her, and it’s price my time and my effort to problem myself towards Amanda, and should one of the best lady win, and I'm enthusiastic about it. However I don't ever must battle once more. I'm good."
