‘Her Biggest Nightmare Was Kayla’

Kayla Harrison’s manager Ali Abdelaziz claims Amanda Nunes left ATT and retired from the sport because of how badly a few training sessions went with the Olympic judo gold medalist.

Did Amanda Nunes retire in order to avoid a fight with Kayla Harrison? According to Harrison’s manager Ali Abdelaziz, that’s exactly what happened.

Harrison made her long-awaited UFC debut at UFC 300, defeating Holly Holm with ease in the second round. That would have set up a big money superfight with Nunes … if Nunes hadn’t retired mid-2023 due to nerve damage in her legs that kept her from training. But that excuse is just a smokescreen for the real reason “Lioness” put down her gloves.

“She retired because Kayla was coming to the UFC,” Abdelaziz insisted on Submission Radio. “Number one. She left ATT because Kayla was training there, right? She turned on the people who really helped her, like Dan Lambert and Conan and everybody who helped her because Kayla was getting more attention.”

“She knew they were going to have to fight, right? Amanda Nunes. Her biggest nightmare in here, it was Kayla. And this is why she retired. She has a lot of pride in her. She retired because of Kayla Harrison. And now she said she wants to come back. I don’t think she ever comes back. But if she comes back, that’ll be amazing.”

Amanda Nunes teased a potential comeback to face Kayla Harrison after her UFC 300 win, tweeting “Chama” which is Brazilian slang for “Let’s go!” Abdelaziz thinks she’s not serious, though.

“[They] trained a couple of times,” he said. “And whatever happened in the training room happened, and she never wants to train with Kayla again. She never wants to spar with Kayla again. She starts training by herself, away from the team every time Kayla comes to the gym. She left. And ATT really created who she is. And she turned on them because she thought Kayla’s coming.”

“And you know what? She was coming. She was right. Kayla was coming. But she was the champion. She was jewel of the gym. Her insecurity and uncertain about beating Kayla allowed her to leave the gym.”

It’s worth taking what Abdelaziz says with a grain of salt. He’s always promoting his fighters as hard as possible, and went so far as to suggest Harrison should fight men if the UFC can’t find competition for her in the women’s divisions.

A fight between Nunes and Harrison is undoubtedly the largest and most competitive fight in women’s MMA you could make today. And Abdelaziz is hopeful that it could happen with enough encouragement from fans.

“I think Amanda, she missed attention,” he concluded. “And I think enough pressure from me and you talking about it, all the media talking about it, it might tickle her ego a little bit and for her to come back. But it doesn’t matter if she wants to come back. She can come back. She’s going to take this loss and go back to retirement.”