Kayla Harrison opens up on neck surgery doubts ahead of Amanda Nunes title fight at UFC 334

UFC women's bantamweight champion Kayla Harrison says there was a point during her recovery from neck surgery when she wondered if she would ever be the same again. Speaking on the Deep Waters podcast, as reported by MMA Fighting on Monday, October 12, Harrison said she now feels "awesome" ahead of her first title defense against Amanda Nunes at UFC 334 on November 14 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

"To be honest, it was rough at the beginning," Harrison said. "It was such a big surgery and I went 10 years without having surgery... in the last four years I've had four surgeries back to back to back to back and this one was the most serious. I kind of was just like, 'Dude, am I ever going to be OK again?' It got to the point where I was questioning if I was ever going to feel like myself again. But I'm back. I'm back."

A fight that was delayed

Harrison vs Nunes was originally booked for UFC 324 at the start of the year, but Harrison was forced to withdraw and underwent surgery. The UFC later rescheduled the bout as the co-main event of UFC 334, which is headlined by heavyweight champion Ciryl Gane defending his title against Josh Hokit, according to the UFC.

Harrison won the belt by submitting Julianna Peña at UFC 316. Nunes, the former two-division champion, retired in June 2023 before announcing a comeback.

Five herniated discs and a two-level fusion

Harrison explained that she had hoped for a disc replacement rather than a fusion, but her surgeon ruled it out once he examined her.

"I had a two-level fusion," she said. "So I have five herniated discs. I wanted to do the disc replacement because I hear that's much better and then when the doc went in, he was like, 'No, you can't.'"

She described the weeks before the original fight date as "the worst pain ever": she could not lift her arm, felt "lightning bolts" of nerve pain and slept only a few hours a night. Before surgery she tried monthly stem cell injections, intensive physical therapy, muscle relaxants and several types of pain medication, but said nothing helped. After a doctor in New York told her she needed surgery immediately, she had the operation the next morning.

"This is for me"

Harrison, a two-time Olympic judo gold medalist and two-time PFL champion, said the ordeal changed how she views her career.

"I'm already satisfied," she said. "Of course, I want this fight, but I'm satisfied with my career... If I never fight again, I'm still a child of God with inherent worth and value and I'm a mom and I'm a daughter and I'm a friend."

She added that the fight with Nunes is about testing herself: "I love fighting... I want to go out there and see what I'm made of. Am I who I say I am?"

The two former training partners have been linked for years, and the bout is widely seen as one of the most anticipated women's title fights in UFC history. UFC 334 takes place on Saturday, November 14.