Kayla Harrison’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz, is eyeing a pair of dream fights for the reigning UFC women’s bantamweight champion.
In an interview with TMZ Sports, Abdelaziz first discussed his desire to have Harrison clash with former UFC women’s featherweight and bantamweight champ Amanda Nunes.
“Kayla has a huge fight coming up,” Abdelaziz said. “Amanda Nunes, please sign the contract. Please sign the contract. Let’s make this happen. Let’s not pull out of this fight. Please, I’m begging you. The fans want it. Kayla wants it. It’s good for your legacy. Let’s not give the UFC a hard time. Sign the contract. We want to fight with you.”
If and when that happens, Abdelaziz noted that he then wants Harrison to face Ronda Rousey with Valentina Shevchenko being a contingency plan if Rousey doesn’t want to return to the Octagon.
“Kayla beats [Nunes] by dominating fashion, stops her, and after that, Kayla will have two options,” Abdelaziz said. “Ronda Rousey will come out of the grave and step up and she will have to pay for everything she’s said and done, cause a lot of beef happened. Or maybe Valentina is gonna go up [135 pounds] and do a superfight. These are the two steps I’d love for Kayla to make.”
Harrison, 35, is a two-time Olympic gold medalist in judo who began her MMA career in 2018. She signed with UFC last year, and in only her third UFC fight, Harrison beat Julianna Peña for the UFC women’s bantamweight title at UFC 316 this past June.
After Harrison’s win over Peña, Nunes stepped into the Octagon and had a faceoff with Harrison, potentially foreshadowing a future fight between them.
The 37-year-old Nunes was once widely regarded as the top women’s MMA fighter in the world, and she is firmly in the conversation as the best women’s MMA fighter of all time.
She owns two wins over Shevchenko and one over Rousey, and she went 23-5 with 13 wins by way of knockout in her career.
After beating Irene Aldana at UFC 289 in June 2023, Nunes retired, however, she announced this year that she would come out of retirement to face the winner of Harrison vs. Peña.
While all signs point toward Harrison vs. Nunes happening, a fight against Rousey may be more of a pipe dream.
Rousey is unquestionably the biggest star in women’s MMA history, and she was beyond dominant over her first 12 fights, going 12-0 with nine submissions, and becoming the inaugural UFC women’s bantamweight champion.
However, Rousey was shockingly knocked out by Holly Holm at UFC 193 in 2015, and when she returned over a year later, Nunes knocked her out at UFC 207.
Rousey subsequently left UFC and became a pro wrestling star in WWE. More recently, she started a family, having two children with her husband Travis Browne.
Last month, Rousey posted videos of herself doing some MMA-related workouts on her Instagram, which led to speculation about a potential return, but she hasn’t given any public indication that a UFC return is in the works.
If Rousey does decide to fight again, though, there is likely no bigger and better matchup for her than Harrison since they are both Olympic judo medalists with plenty of star power.
