With Kayla Harrison making her 145-pound debut, could a fight with UFC featherweight champion Amanda Nunes be on the horizon?
PFL lightweight champion Harrison (7-0) will drop down to featherweight for the first time in her career when she faces Courtney King (4-1) in the co-main event of Friday’s Invicta FC 43, which streams live on UFC Fight Pass from Kansas City, Kan.
Some have suggested it looks like a logical first step toward a fight with two-division UFC champion Nunes, but Harrison says there’s no rush. Both fighters currently train under the same roof at American Top Team, but that’s not the issue for Harrison. Instead, the two-time Olympic judo champion wants to make sure she garners enough experience before a potential meeting with the consensus greatest female fighter of all time.
“We both had a crazy year,” Harrison told MMA Junkie. “She just had a baby. I just got two babies. It’s been a heck of a year. She’s the GOAT. I’m a beginner, but she’s who I’m chasing. She knows that, I know that, everyone knows that. She’s who I aspire to be like. That’s the goal, is to be the best ever. Right now, I’m just focused on making 145, winning this fight, on to the next fight, on to the next fight, on to the next fight. But, one step at a time, that’s how that happens. I think in the future … I’m never going to say no.
“I’m never going to say no to that opportunity. I would do it with respect and utmost pride in being able to fight her, and I love Amanda. I think she is awesome. I think she’s a good person. I think she’s a great fighter. I think she’s – I don’t know. I have nothing but good things to say about her, so if it happens, it’s not going to be like a nasty – it’s not going to be like a Colby-Masvidal. It’s going to be like a, ‘I love you, but we’ve got to go do business. Let’s go both make some money.’”
With the UFC’s rather shallow featherweight division, there aren’t too many challenges ahead at 145 pounds for Nunes, who’s scheduled to face Megan Anderson in the first quarter of 2021.
But for Harrison, it’s King first on Friday, and potentially one more fight before the 2021 PFL season kicks off in April.
