Harrison retains bantamweight title by submitting Nunes at UFC 334 after doubting her return from neck surgery

Kayla Harrison retained the UFC women’s bantamweight title at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, submitting Amanda Nunes with a rear-naked choke at 1:27 of the fourth round in the UFC 334 co-main event — a result that arrived after months of uncertainty over whether Harrison would compete again at the highest level.

Harrison underwent neck surgery earlier this year and said the recovery left her genuinely unsure whether she could return to form. “There was a point this year where I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to come back, if I was going to be able to compete at the highest level like I want to,” Harrison said in her post-fight interview. “I never want to just come collect a paycheck. I never want to just come participate. I want to come and I want to be the best.”

The fight was pushed back more than once while Harrison’s neck continued to heal. She said the repeated delays ultimately worked in her favour, giving her a longer training camp and making the cut to 135 pounds more manageable. “In hindsight, I’m glad that it all happened the way it was supposed to because I was training for longer, my weight was able to get lower,” she said. Harrison added that she needed only a single weight-cutting session on Thursday night and woke up on weight Friday morning.

The contest itself was not straightforward. Nunes, a former two-division UFC champion, troubled Harrison in the early rounds with hard right hands and attempted takedowns of her own. Harrison, however, found her footing on the mat as the fight progressed. In the fourth round she secured Nunes’ back and locked in the rear-naked choke, forcing the tap and ending any doubt about who controlled the 135-pound division.

The victory underlines Harrison’s standing as one of the most dominant fighters in the women’s bantamweight ranks, and her willingness to discuss the physical and mental toll of her recovery adds a layer of context to a performance that, from the outside, looked composed and clinical.