The injury that scrapped Kayla Harrison’s return was a long-standing problem.
Harrison pulled out of UFC 324, where she was scheduled to make her opening defense of the ladies’s bantamweight title as a part of the very first event on Paramount+.
News of the 135-pound UFC champion’s withdrawal broke on Wednesday, alongside confirmation that she had undergone surgery on herniated discs in her neck.
Harrison’s clash with returning women’s GOAT Amanda Nunes has thus been postponed, a choice that appears to have saved the ex-judoka from some serious health problems down the road.
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Now that Kayla Harrison vs Amanda Nunes is off, which UFC 324 fight are you looking forward to essentially the most? 🤔
Kayla Harrison’s manager claims she had a brutal neck injury for six years
On Thursday, Harrison broke her silence on the UFC 324 cancellation with a video on social media. The emotional two-time Olympic gold medalist apologized to Nunes from a hospital bed after the medical procedure.
Her manager, Ali Abdelaziz, subsequently provided an additional update. He revealed that the injury was not a recent occurrence and had actually plagued Harrison for as much as six years.
Finally, he says, the problem got too severe to disregard.
“Obviously, everyone knows by now that Kayla postponed her fight with Amanda Nunes,” Abdelaziz wrote on X.
“I truthfully don’t know the way she’s been fighting for the last 5 or 6 years with this sort of injury. Nevertheless it reached some extent where it was mandatory—continuing would have put her life and long-term health at serious risk.
“One thing about @KaylaH: she all the time comes back stronger and higher. I can’t wait. This comeback shall be legendary. Stay tuned,” he added.
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Ali Abdelaziz predicted that Amanda Nunes wouldn’t ‘show up’ at UFC 324
With Harrison’s injury forcing a postponement, a few of Abdelaziz’s comments from 2025 have backfired.
After confirmation that Nunes would return from retirement to challenge Harrison, the Dominance MMA CEO expressed doubt concerning the matchup reaching the cage.
Abdelaziz predicted that Nunes would back out of UFC 324 and even requested that the promotion secure a backup fighter for the co-main event.
“I don’t know if Amanda will show up,” Abdelaziz said on Submission Radio. “That’s why I used to be asking the UFC, ‘Please have a backup.’
“I don’t know if she is going to actually make the burden, make the cut. It’s really hard, especially once you make an entire bunch of cash.
“She is coming back because she missed the eye,” he continued. “She isn’t getting attention anywhere else, and he or she hates that Kayla is getting all the eye that she used to.”
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