Nine months after suffering a serious cervical spine injury that
forced her to withdraw from the UFC 324 main event against Amanda
Nunes and undergo emergency surgery, Kayla
Harrison is back in training for the highly anticipated
matchup.
“Her injury was very serious. She had to undergo surgery and spent
several months unable to train, but she made a great recovery and,
three weeks ago, returned to full training for the fight, which is
expected to take place Nov. 14 in New York,”
American Top Team muay thai coach Anderson Franca told
Sherdog.
Advertisement
Kayla Harrison resumes full training nine months after cervical
spine injury
The two-time Olympic judo gold medalist and UFC women’s
bantamweight champion will face Nunes, the former two-division UFC
champion widely regarded as the greatest women’s mixed martial
artist of all time.
Interestingly, Franca was also one of the key coaches in Nunes’
camp for her 2018 fight against Cris
Cyborg.
“Amanda was considered the underdog against Cyborg, and we trained
a lot for that fight. I would say that victory was the
second-biggest professional thrill of my career, after Edson
Barboza’s retirement. But we are professionals. Now I’ll be on
the other side, God willing, helping Kayla beat her,” Franca
said.
Franca also praised Harrison’s determination and framed the matchup
as a battle for more than a championship.
“Kayla is an Olympic champion driven by challenges. She wants to be
known as the greatest of all time, and to achieve that she knows
she has to beat Amanda, who is considered the GOAT today. So this
is about more than the belt. It’s a fight for legacy, and it will
be decided by the smallest details. Whoever makes fewer mistakes
will leave with the title.”