Kayla Harrison turned away from the Octagon and placed both hands on the barricade behind her. She threw her hands up and screamed “f—!” several times.
It was Dec. 11 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Harrison had just witnessed, from the front row, her then-American Top Team training partner Amanda Nunes lose the UFC women’s bantamweight championship to Julianna Peña at UFC 269. Peña was a considerable underdog. After all, Nunes, who still holds the UFC’s featherweight title, is widely considered the greatest fighter in women’s MMA.
Many speculated that Harrison was furious because Nunes’ third-round submission loss dashed a big-money fight in the future between the two of them. Harrison, a two-time women’s lightweight champion in the Professional Fighters League, had recently become a free agent and was being courted by, among others, the UFC. Promotion president Dana White even addressed a potential Nunes-Harrison “massive, mega-million-dollar fight” while talking to the media following UFC 269. But Harrison said that losing out on that fight was not what had made her so upset.
“I was shocked,” Harrison told ESPN. “Everyone was making assumptions about it. But to be honest with you, Amanda was a teammate of mine. She was someone I helped train for this fight. … I wanted her to win. I was as shocked as the rest of the world and I was heartbroken for her.”
Nunes’ loss set off a domino effect that shaped Harrison’s free agency this past winter. The night before UFC 269, Harrison had sat down for dinner alongside her manager, Ali Abdelaziz, and two UFC officials, chief business officer Hunter Campbell and matchmaker Mick Maynard. At the time, there was positivity from both sides about the possibility of the UFC signing Harrison, sources told ESPN. After Nunes lost, White began singing a different tune.
Ultimately, on March 8, Harrison re-signed with the only promotion she has ever competed in, the PFL. According to sources, Bellator MMA made Harrison a…
Source : espn
