Kayla Harrison is already planning the second fight before the first one happens. At Thursday's UFC 334 press conference at Madison Square Garden, the bantamweight champion told Amanda Nunes that once she beats her on Saturday night, she will hand her an automatic rematch — at 145 pounds, for the featherweight belt.
“And then I'll give her an automatic rematch at 145 so I can snatch that other belt.”
Harrison said she will prove she is the champion on Saturday night, and then she will give Nunes the return fight on her terms: "And then I'll give her an automatic rematch at 145 so I can snatch that other belt."
The offer is bigger than a rematch clause. It is a plan to bring back a division that no longer exists. Nunes retired from the UFC in 2023 holding both the women's 135-pound and 145-pound belts, and the UFC retired the women's featherweight division when she left. Harrison, a former lightweight who has been forced to cut massive amounts of weight to make 135, has said the weight cut has been her biggest opponent in the UFC — and that she would rather retire than keep cutting to 135.
Saturday's fight is the one the two were first booked for in January. Harrison pulled out of that date with five herniated discs in her neck and underwent a two-level neck fusion. She has not fought in 17 months, since submitting Julianna Peña to win the bantamweight title at UFC 316 in June 2025, and Saturday is her first defense of the belt.
Nunes is coming back for the belt she never lost. The 38-year-old has not fought in more than three years — her last fight was UFC 289 in June 2023, when she beat Irene Aldana by unanimous decision, laid both belts and her gloves on the canvas, and retired. When Harrison won the title, Nunes texted the UFC to say she was ready to return: "When Kayla got the belt... I literally sent them (the UFC) a text message — 'I'm ready to go'. I'm gonna be the one that takes my belt back from Kayla."
The co-main event carries the biggest stakes in women's MMA in years. Harrison is 19-1 in MMA and 3-0 in the UFC, a two-time Olympic judo gold medalist. Nunes is 23-5 in MMA and 16-2 in the UFC, a former champion in two divisions who never lost either title before retiring — and she built that claim on the defining run in the sport's history, submitting Miesha Tate to win the bantamweight belt in July 2016, knocking out Ronda Rousey in 48 seconds in her first defense, and stopping Cris Cyborg in 51 seconds in December 2018 to take the featherweight belt.
There has been plenty of talk that UFC 334 could be a double-retirement fight, with both women walking away after Saturday. Harrison is offering a different ending: beat Nunes at 135, then fight her again at 145 for the other belt. She told Death Row MMA in March that if the UFC does not bring back the featherweight division, she is happy to walk away — "If they don't want to make a 145, then I'm just gonna say like thank you, it's been great."
For the offer to mean anything, the UFC has to revive a division it shut down. The case for doing it is the fights themselves: Harrison against Nunes again at 145, and then Harrison against Cris Cyborg — two fights that would be worth bringing the division back for in 2027.
First, Harrison has to win on Saturday night. If she does, the rematch offer is already on the table — and the UFC has to decide whether a dead division is worth reviving for its champion.
