UFC girls’s bantamweight champion Kayla Harrison has missed her scheduled title protection towards Amanda Nunes at UFC 324 on January twenty fourth after present process surgical procedure to restore a herniated disc in her neck. The withdrawal was a big blow to a bout that was touted as one of many greatest in girls’s MMA historical past.
Kayla Harrison injured forward of UFC 324
Harrison flew to New York final weekend to seek the advice of with UFC medical doctors, who really useful the surgical procedure. She underwent surgical procedure on Tuesday to deal with the harm, however will want at the very least six months of rehabilitation and coaching earlier than returning to competitors. The surgical procedure concerned repairing a number of herniated discs, however particular particulars in regards to the extent of the harm weren’t launched.
The 35-year-old champion has been on a roll since profitable the bantamweight title at UFC 316 on June 7, 2025, scoring a victory over Juliana Peña through kimura at 4:55 of the second spherical. The 2-time Olympic judo gold medalist had maintained an ideal 3-0 file within the UFC since signing with the UFC in January 2024, together with wins over former champions Holly Holm, Ketlen Vieira, and Peña.
The matchup with Nunes got here with nice expectations and private historical past. Each educated collectively at American Prime Group in Florida till Nunes left the health club in 2021 after dropping to Pena. Nunes later admitted that Harrison’s presence on the health club influenced her choice to go away, stating that it will create issues for health club proprietor Dan Lambert if each future opponents continued to coach underneath the identical roof.
Nunes, broadly considered the best feminine blended martial artist of all time, introduced her retirement after defeating Irene Aldana by unanimous choice at UFC 289 in June 2023. The 35-year-old Brazilian got here out of retirement particularly to face Harrison, whose Olympic champion received the UFC title. Nunes, 23-5 in her profession, is a former two-division champion who held each the bantamweight and featherweight titles throughout an amazing 12-fight profitable streak.
UFC 324 is ready to be the debut occasion underneath a brand new seven-year, $7.7 billion broadcast cope with Paramount+, and would be the first numbered UFC occasion not accessible on conventional pay-per-view in the US since 2021’s UFC 267. The cardboard will probably be headlined by an interim light-weight title struggle between Justin Gaethje and Paddy Pimblett at T-Cellular Enviornment in Las Vegas.
In response to experiences, the struggle between Harrison and Nunes will probably be postponed to 2026, however no particular schedule has been introduced. It stays to be seen whether or not the UFC will designate Nunes for an interim title struggle or if the promotion will anticipate Harrison’s restoration to reschedule the bout.
