With UFC 324 losing its co-main event due to a Kayla Harrison injury, Daniel Cormier is open to the idea of having Amanda Nunes take another fight.
The UFC women’s bantamweight champ was forced out of her matchup against Nunes in the first numbered event of the year due to a neck injury. According to initial reports, the injury is expected to keep Harrison out for at least six months.
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Harrison won the title by stopping Julianna Peña at UFC 316 in June. A six-month delay, on the short end of the expected recovery time, would put her a year from her last fight. The former two-division champ Nunes hasn’t competed since June 2023, and was just days away from a return from retirement, straight into one of the best possible matchups in women’s MMA today.
With the uncertainty of Harrison’s return date, should the promotion create an interim title fight involving Nunes? Cormier isn’t so sure.
“That’s bad, right? Neck is bad,” Cormier said on “The Ariel Helwani Show.” “… Is Kayla gone for six months? Because if Kayla’s gone for only six months, you can’t say this is an interim title fight. Because Amanda Nunes-Kayla Harrison is a massive fight. Kayla is vocal, too, right? … How would she feel about an interim title fight?
“The one thing that you don’t necessarily need with Amanda Nunes is her holding a belt. You can just put one on her. And then the visual is two champions fighting. If she fights and if she gets an interim title fight, now you put a belt on her, but Kayla Harrison just fought recently. Like, does an interim title make sense? Yes, you want to fight Amanda Nunes. Problem is, and Chael (Sonnen) always made this point, you don’t get better by not doing something.”
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For Cormier, keeping together the matchup between Harrison and Nunes is the most important piece of the puzzle. Even though Nunes dominated the division before retiring, Cormier wonders if that will be the case three years later, especially when the big return was centered around such a big fight. However, if Harrison is going to be sidelined for longer than half the year, Cormier can get on board with an interim title fight in the meantime.
“If it’s going to be longer than six months, you fight her with the hope that she still wins, and now you’ve got two champions, both of them holding belts,” Cormier said. “… I feel like (Nunes) will get an option, but I don’t know if it’s ultimately going to be her decision. Because, dude, you can’t make a bigger female fight than Amanda Nunes-Kayla Harrison, and Amanda looked in phenomenal shape last time I saw her on some pictures. She looks great. You would guess that she would still be able to manage just about everyone in fighting.
“… So, it’s relatively safe, I’d imagine, but man, you cannot lose Kayla Harrison-Amanda Nunes because of all the questions we don’t know. We know that Kayla Harrison can beat everyone, but can she beat Amanda Nunes? If Amanda goes out and fights and wins and doesn’t look great, then it kind of becomes more like, ‘Well, this is someone else that Kayla Harrison is going to get.'”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Should Amanda Nunes fight for interim title? Ex-UFC champ weighs in
