Kayla Harrison cemented a signature win and held onto the women’s bantamweight title with a brutal fourth-round submission over Amanda Nunes at UFC 334 from Madison Square Garden! That rear-naked choke on an exhausted Nunes was absolutely clinical after an impressive performance from the champion. Both women were coming off long layoffs, but man, they wasted no time getting back into the thick of it.
The Fight: Harrison Dominates From Crucifix to Choke
Harrison pressed the issue from the jump, acting as the aggressor with her relentless footwork. Nunes did respond with some timely counters early on that even rocked Harrison, but then The Lioness made a costly mistake in the first round. She tried to take Harrison’s back and ended up getting taken down herself, then put into a crucifix position. Harrison absolutely dominated from there for the rest of the round, landing some serious ground strikes.
Nunes inexplicably continued her questionable strategy of engaging Harrison in grappling in the second frame. And just like before, Harrison capitalized, getting to the crucifix position again and doing damage. Plenty of folks were baffled by Nunes’ approach, but Harrison just kept finding herself in the superior position. The levy finally broke in the fourth round when Harrison knocked Nunes down and immediately jumped on the rear-naked choke to secure the finish. According to ESPN’s Fight Center, Harrison landed a staggering 160 total strikes before she locked in that submission. Talk about a beatdown!
From Olympic Gold to Title Defense, And The 145-Pound Question
This win is massive for Kayla Harrison. She’s been considered one of the top fighters in all of women’s MMA for a while, and now she’s got a win against an all-time great to prove it. The 36-year-old’s rise started with her Olympic Judo career, where she snagged two gold medals. That naturally drew comparisons to Ronda Rousey, but Harrison has definitely proven herself to have more longevity in MMA. She kicked off her PFL career in 2018 and has absolutely climbed the ranks to become a UFC champion.
The biggest problem for her, though, has been that cut to 135 pounds. She spent much of her PFL career fighting at 155 and 145 pounds before having to drop down to bantamweight for the UFC. After such a dominant performance, Harrison immediately called for the organization to bring back her home weight class for a rematch with Nunes. She even said at the UFC 334 pre-fight press conference, “I feel like I am gonna prove I’m the champion on Saturday night. And then I’ll give her an automatic rematch at 145 so I can snatch that other belt.” The UFC actually did briefly have the 145-pound class when Cyborg and Nunes were regularly competing, but it has unfortunately been defunct since 2023.
Nunes was making her first appearance since successfully defending her bantamweight title against Irene Aldana back in 2023. Now we have to wonder: was this return from retirement a one-off just because of Harrison, or does she still have that competitive fire to keep pursuing the belt after this loss? With Harrison already looking to snatch another belt at 145, the future of women’s MMA just got way more interesting.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Bleacher Report.
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