Amanda Nunes has fought and defeated a long list of former champions and all-time greats during her career and she’s looking to add one more with her booked fight against Kayla Harrison at UFC 334.
That said, as Nunes returns from retirement, she fully understands the dangers Harrison poses in the octagon, but that doesn’t mean she views her next opponent as the biggest threat she’s ever faced. In fact, Nunes considers a fight she finished in less than a minute to be the toughest challenge she has ever faced.
“(Cris) Cyborg was (the toughest),” Nunes said at the UFC 334 media day. “Respect. Size-wise too. Cyborg is huge. Cyborg is like the double Kayla. Cyborg can knock me out. The power that this woman has and has never lost before, all those things.
“This fight is different but my biggest fight ever was becoming a double champion against Cyborg, of course.”
Nunes was victorious after moving up to featherweight to challenge Cris Cyborg for her UFC title and the fight lasted just 51 seconds.
This victory crowned Nunes a two-division champion and she ultimately defended both titles before her retirement.
As for the fight with Harrison, she is fully confident that she will win and reclaim the bantamweight title she left behind when she called it a career, and then defend it repeatedly.
“I’ll win on Saturday,” Nunes said. “There’s no doubt in my mind. You know it. I’m going to do it. My two belts, I already have room on my wall for them. Anyone after that. Whatever the UFC wants to do.”
When it comes to her past with Harrison, Nunes shut down any notions that she harbored ill will toward the two-time Olympian before their fight.
Much has been made of Nunes and Harrison training together in the past and sharing some of the same coaches, but the Brazilian promises there is no underlying disdain between them. This next challenge is all about competition, and Nunes isn’t secretly seeking revenge on her former teammate.
“No hate here,” Nunes said. “It’s about not hating anyone. It’s about the challenge that Kayla brings and how great this is going to be for women’s MMA. The one thing we would have never done this workout on the same mat with the same coaches and the same gym. That was the problem and the situation. But I don’t hate Kayla. Why should I hate Kayla?”
“Why is it all about hate? It’s a fight. We want to prove who’s the best girl in the cage that night. So it’s not hate at all.”
Gn sports
