Amanda Nunes announced her retirement in June 2023 with the kind of resume that demanded immediate Hall of Fame consideration. Two-division champion. Longest reigning bantamweight champion in UFC history, per UFC Stats. Victories over Ronda Rousey, Miesha Tate, Valentina Shevchenko, Cris Cyborg, and Holly Holm. The greatest women’s mixed martial artist to ever compete, stepping away on her own terms after defending the featherweight title against Irene Aldana at UFC 289. Two and a half years later, she returns at UFC 324 on January 24 to challenge Kayla Harrison for the bantamweight title she once held, creating arguably the most significant women’s title fight in UFC history.
The decision to come back wasn’t impulsive. Nunes entered the UFC’s anti-doping program in July 2025, per MMA Junkie’s John Morgan, months after publicly stating her intention to return and challenge whoever held the bantamweight title. Harrison had submitted Julianna Peña in June to claim that belt, setting up a matchup that MMA fans have speculated about for years. Nunes and Harrison trained together at American Top Team before Harrison’s move to the UFC, creating a rivalry built on familiarity and mutual respect that has never been settled inside the Octagon. Now it will be, in Las Vegas, with everything on the line.
For Nunes, this fight represents legacy enhancement that retirement couldn’t provide. The Hall of Fame induction in June 2025 recognized what she accomplished, but defeating Harrison would add a chapter that no amount of retrospective analysis could match. Harrison is the only elite bantamweight of this era that Nunes never faced, the one question mark on an otherwise comprehensive resume of dominance. Answering that question matters to Nunes in ways that extend beyond championships and statistics.
Harrison enters the bout as the defending champion, but she’ll be widely viewed as the challenger. Her three UFC victories have been dominant, yet she’s competing against a legend who has spent a decade establishing herself as the standard all women’s fighters measure themselves against. The pressure of facing Nunes differs from any previous opponent Harrison has encountered in mixed martial arts.
The GOAT Returns: Nunes’ Preparation and Motivation
Amanda Nunes’ training camp for UFC 324 has featured a strategic addition that speaks to her understanding of Kayla Harrison’s vulnerabilities. Larissa Pacheco, the only woman to defeat Harrison in MMA competition, has joined Nunes’ preparation team to provide insight into how to beat the champion. Pacheco lost to Harrison twice before finally outpointing her in 2022 to win the PFL lightweight tournament, per ESPN MMA, learning through those defeats what adjustments were necessary to neutralize Harrison’s Olympic-level judo and relentless pressure.
The Pacheco collaboration reveals Nunes’ approach to this fight. Rather than relying solely on her own extensive experience, she’s seeking specific intelligence about Harrison’s tendencies, habits, and areas of potential exploitation. Nunes has always been a student of the game despite her natural physical gifts, and her willingness to bring in Pacheco suggests she understands that Harrison presents unique challenges that previous opponents did not.
Physically, Nunes faces the standard questions that accompany any comeback from extended retirement. She’s 37 years old, hasn’t competed since UFC 289, and will be facing a champion in her athletic prime. Ring rust is real, and the adjustments fighters make to compensate for aging bodies can diminish the explosiveness that defined their peaks. Nunes’ knockout power was legendary throughout her career, but whether it remains at that level after this layoff is genuinely unknown.
Her motivation, however, has never been questioned. Nunes retired as champion because she’d accomplished everything she set out to achieve. She returns now specifically because Harrison represents unfinished business that retirement couldn’t resolve. This isn’t a fighter coming back for money or attention. It’s a legend seeking the one victory that would remove any lingering doubt about her status as the greatest women’s MMA fighter in history.
Harrison’s Championship Reign: Building Her Own Legacy
Kayla Harrison’s path to the UFC bantamweight championship took longer than many expected for a two-time Olympic gold medalist. Her PFL career produced two tournament championships, according to Sherdog records, and established her dominance in that organization, but critics consistently questioned whether that success would translate against UFC-caliber competition. The answer came definitively when she submitted Julianna Peña in June 2025 to claim the bantamweight title, silencing doubts about her ability to compete at the highest level.
Harrison’s three UFC victories have demonstrated that her grappling translates perfectly against the best fighters in the world. Her judo credentials provide takedown opportunities that other fighters simply cannot replicate, and her ground control has been suffocating against everyone she’s faced. The Peña submission was particularly impressive because Peña had proven herself as a durable, gritty competitor who rarely stopped fighting. Harrison made it look comfortable, establishing position and finishing with technical precision.
The championship belt changes the nature of this fight for Harrison. She’s defending something she earned through years of work and doubt from critics who dismissed her PFL accomplishments. Losing to Nunes would validate every skeptic who claimed Harrison only looked good against inferior competition, that her success was a product of fighting in an organization without UFC-level talent. The pressure of that narrative weighs differently than the pressure of simply winning a fight.
Harrison’s trash talk heading into the fight has been confident without crossing into disrespect. She’s acknowledged Nunes’ accomplishments while insisting that this version of Harrison, the UFC champion in her prime, would be too much for a retired legend to handle. As Brett Okamoto of ESPN reported, Harrison told media that Nunes will be “going back to retirement” after UFC 324, reflecting the champion’s belief that the layoff has diminished whatever advantages Nunes once possessed.
The pressure on Harrison extends beyond legacy considerations. She’s defending against a fighter who trained with her, who knows her tendencies intimately, and who has the experience of headlining the biggest women’s fights in UFC history. Nunes won’t be intimidated by the moment. She’s been here dozens of times. Harrison’s biggest fights have been in smaller organizations against lesser-known opponents. The stage matters, and this stage is unlike anything Harrison has experienced.
Style Matchup: Striking vs. Grappling Supremacy
The fundamental question of Nunes vs. Harrison centers on whether Nunes can keep the fight standing long enough to land the devastating strikes that have finished so many previous opponents. Her knockout power at bantamweight has been historically unprecedented among women. She dropped Rousey in 48 seconds and finished Cyborg in 51, according to Sherdog records. She’s proven capable of ending fights against elite competition with single shots that opponents never saw coming.
Harrison’s path to victory runs through her grappling. If she can close distance, secure takedowns, and impose her will on the ground, she possesses the skills to control Nunes for extended periods. Her judo throws are world-class, literally trained at the Olympic level, and her top control has been smothering against UFC competition. The question is whether Nunes’ takedown defense, which has always been underrated relative to her striking, can prevent Harrison from establishing her preferred range.
The American Top Team connection complicates preparation for both fighters. They’ve trained together extensively, which means each has direct knowledge of the other’s tendencies, favorite techniques, and physical capabilities. Harrison knows how Nunes likes to set up her power punches. Nunes knows Harrison’s preferred takedown entries. The familiarity eliminates surprises and creates a fight that will likely be won through execution of known game plans rather than catching an opponent off-guard.
The opening round could determine everything. If Nunes lands clean and hurts Harrison early, her finishing instincts might end the fight before Harrison’s cardio advantages become relevant. If Harrison survives that initial onslaught and drags Nunes into deep waters, the layoff becomes increasingly significant. Five-round championship fights test conditioning in ways that training camp cannot perfectly replicate, and Nunes hasn’t experienced that kind of sustained exertion since UFC 289.
Betting markets have Harrison as a moderate favorite, reflecting both her championship status and questions about Nunes’ ability to perform at her peak after such extended time away. The odds don’t account for the intangibles that define championship fighters, the mental fortitude and experience under pressure that Nunes possesses in abundance. Harrison may be physically superior in January 2026, but Nunes has been the best in the world for so long that discounting her feels uncomfortable regardless of circumstance.
Legacy on the Line: What Each Fighter Stands to Gain
This fight transcends the bantamweight title. It determines whether Amanda Nunes completes the most comprehensive resume in women’s MMA history or whether Kayla Harrison establishes herself as the standard-bearer for a new generation. The winner will be able to claim definitively that she beat everyone worth beating. The loser will carry questions about what might have been if circumstances had been different.
For Nunes, victory means returning to retirement as the undisputed greatest with no asterisks or lingering what-ifs. She would have beaten the Olympic champion, the one elite contemporary she never faced, and done so at 37 years old after years away from competition. That story would be told as long as women’s MMA exists, a legend who came back specifically to prove she was still the best and then proved it.
For Harrison, victory means she’s beaten the greatest ever, a credential that no amount of other wins could provide. She would enter her prime as the fighter who ended Nunes’ comeback, who proved that the new generation has surpassed the old, and who holds a victory that validates everything she accomplished before reaching the UFC. Harrison’s legacy needs this win more than Nunes’ does, which adds a layer of desperation to her preparation.
The UFC 324 card also features Justin Gaethje versus Paddy Pimblett for the interim lightweight title, making January 24 one of the most significant fight nights in recent UFC history. The event marks the organization’s Paramount+ debut as well, adding commercial significance to an already stacked card. But Harrison versus Nunes is the headliner because of what it represents: the greatest women’s fighter ever attempting to prove she still belongs against the champion who wants to prove she’s inherited that mantle.
How This Plays Out
The overlooked variable in this matchup is pace. Harrison’s grappling dominance in PFL and her early UFC fights was built on opponents who respected her judo enough to fight cautiously, ceding initiative and allowing Harrison to dictate range and timing. Nunes has never fought that way. Her career-defining performances came when she walked forward throwing heavy leather, forcing opponents to deal with her aggression before they could implement their own game plans. That forward pressure changes the calculus on Harrison’s takedown entries because shooting on someone moving toward you is fundamentally different from shooting on someone circling away.
Harrison’s three UFC victories, per UFC Stats, came against opponents who averaged fewer than 40 significant strikes attempted per fight. Nunes averaged over 80 in her final five title defenses. The volume and power differential means Harrison will absorb more damage in the clinch exchanges preceding her takedown attempts than she has in any previous UFC bout. Whether her chin holds up under that sustained fire is the genuine unknown, because no one in Harrison’s career has hit as hard or as accurately as Nunes at bantamweight.
The fight likely hinges on rounds two and three. Nunes will have her best striking in round one, but Harrison’s Olympic-caliber judo means she will likely secure at least one takedown early. If Nunes can get back to her feet quickly and make Harrison pay in the transitions, the accumulation of damage could slow the champion’s shot attempts by the middle rounds. If Harrison can hold Nunes down for extended stretches in the first two rounds, the cardio deficit from the layoff becomes a compounding problem that Nunes cannot train away entirely.
Prediction: Nunes by third-round TKO. Harrison will win the first round on the ground, but Nunes will begin timing the takedown entries in the second, landing uppercuts in the pocket that discourage Harrison from closing distance. By the third, the damage accumulation and the dawning realization that her grappling advantage is neutralized will create the kind of hesitation that Nunes has exploited throughout her career. The key insight is that Harrison has never faced an opponent who gets more dangerous as a fight becomes chaotic, and Nunes thrives in exactly that environment.
Sources
- Amanda Nunes to unretire, calls for winner of Pena-Harrison - ESPN MMA
- Harrison dominates Pena at UFC 316, sets up showdown with Nunes - ESPN MMA
- Kayla Harrison vs. Amanda Nunes officially announced for historic title match at UFC 324 - LowKick MMA
- Amanda Nunes career record and fight history - Sherdog
- UFC 324: Official event page - UFC
