Kayla Harrison Overcame Five Herniated Discs to Defend Title at UFC 334
The bantamweight champion nearly retired after surgery and eight weeks in a neck brace before Amanda Nunes drew her back.
Kayla Harrison almost walked away from fighting. The UFC women's bantamweight champion revealed the full extent of the neck injuries that nearly ended her career ahead of Saturday's title defense against Amanda Nunes at UFC 334 in Madison Square Garden.
Harrison, 36 and 19-1, told Uncrowned that she had been dealing with five herniated discs built up over years of combat sports. An MRI in January showed two of those discs were completely blocking nerves, per Yahoo Sports. She experienced numbness in her arm, lost feeling in three fingers and lost strength in her right hand.
She tried everything before agreeing to surgery: stem cells, anti-inflammatories, pain medication, nerve medication, muscle relaxers and physical therapy. An epidural did not help. A UFC specialist in New York warned her of possible permanent damage if she did not get the operation, per Yahoo Sports.
Harrison had the surgery and spent eight weeks in a neck brace with a 20-pound lifting limit. She told The Ariel Helwani Show she was not sure she would fight again.
What brought her back was the opponent. Harrison said she probably would not have returned if Nunes had not come out of retirement to make this fight possible. Two herniated discs still need fixing after she is done competing, per Yahoo Sports.
Harrison last fought in June 2025, when she submitted Julianna Pena with a second-round kimura to win the bantamweight title.
Five herniated discs. Surgery. Two months in a neck brace. And Kayla Harrison is fighting Amanda Nunes at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night. That is one of the toughest comeback stories in UFC history, and it has barely gotten any attention because the heavyweight title fight and the Merab situation have eaten up all the oxygen.
I respect Harrison more than almost anyone on this card. She did not have to come back. She said it herself: she was devastated, she was not sure she would fight again. But the one opponent who could pull her back showed up, and Harrison answered.
Nunes is a legend, but she has been retired. Harrison is the champion who fought through an injury that could have left her with permanent nerve damage. If she finishes Nunes Saturday, this should be remembered as one of the great title defenses in women's MMA.
