Kayla Harrison gets honest about her history with Amanda Nunes ahead of potential title clash: "This isn't going to be like a Colby-Masvidal"

Kayla Harrison (right) talks about a potential Amanda Nunes (left) fight. [Image courtesy: Getty Images]
Kayla Harrison (right) talks about a potential Amanda Nunes (left) fight. [Image courtesy: Getty Images]

Kayla Harrison recently shared her thoughts on a potential Amanda Nunes clash and dismissed the notion that there's any bad blood between the two former training partners.

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Harrison is coming off an impressive second-round submission victory over Julianna Pena at UFC 316 in June, and became the new women's bantamweight champion. Soon after her title victory, Nunes announced that she intends to come out of retirement, with many expecting her to face Harrison in a title fight in her comeback bout next.

Intriguingly, Harrison and Nunes used to train together at the American Top Team (ATT) gym before 'The Lioness' parted ways with the team. Given the intense rivalry between Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal, who also trained together at ATT before the former's exit, many began wondering whether there was any bad blood between Harrison and Nunes as well.

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In a recent interview with MMA Junkie, Harrison dismissed the notion and rubbished having any old feud with Nunes and said:

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"She is a big reason for me moving down to Florida. I had tried a bunch of different gyms, and I came down, met Mike Brown. My second day there, I sparred with her, and I was like, 'Holy sh*t!' Yeah, sketchy, and I hadn't even had an MMA fight yet, actually. Very quickly, I was like, 'Oh, this is it. This is where I've got to be.' You want to be the best, you've got to train with the best, but our paths didn't cross a ton in training."
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She continued:

"I have nothing personal against her. I think she's a great fighter, I think she's a great champion, I think she's a good person, a good mother. This isn't going to be like a Colby-Masvidal. This is going to be like, hey, these are the two best fighters in the world." [H/t: MMA Junkie]
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Watch the full interview below:

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When Amanda Nunes outlined a timeline for potential Kayla Harrison title clash

Amanda Nunes sees herself facing Kayla Harrison before the year ends. The UFC icon addressed a potential fight against Harrison earlier this year and claimed she'd be ready by November or December.

In an interview with Jon Anik and Brett Okamoto at a UFC 316 post-fight show, Nunes claimed that the Harrison fight wouldn't be possible if she had stayed at ATT and said:

"Honestly, if I stayed [at] American Top Team, then this fight might not have happened... I'm going to really get in camp now full-time. I was training here and there, and always in shape, and honestly, like November, December. I'm going to be ready to go before the end of the year."

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Edited by Nishant Zende.
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