Kayla Harrison opens up on brutal year that nearly drove her into retirement: 'I wasn't even crawling'

Kayla Harrison is back.To start the year as part of the UFC's big launch event on Paramount, the reigning women's bantamweight champion Harrison was set to compete on Jan. 24 at UFC 324. Standing in her way was former American Top Team teammate and all-time great Amanda Nunes — that was, until a serious neck injury forced Harrison's withdrawal and required surgery and nearly a full year of recovery.Now healthy, Harrison is finally good to go, and the fight has been rebooked for Nov. 14 in New York's Madison Square Garden at UFC 334. Harrison, 36, admitted on Wednesday's edition of "The Ariel Helwani Show" that she wasn't sure if she would ever fight again."I wasn't very good for a very long time, and it was a struggle," Harrison told Uncrowned. "There were a lot of moments where I kind of questioned if this was going to be possible, and if I needed to come to terms with the fact that I might be all done. But I'm back."No single incident caused Harrison's injuries, but rather an accumulation of damage over a lifetime of combat. The two-time Olympic gold medalist judoka revealed that she had five herniated discs in her neck, which she'd been dealing with for quite some time.Eventually, the pain was too much. Harrison finally went to get an MRI in January, revealing that two of the discs were completely blocking nerves."It's flared up, and it's been bad. I've sort of just done everything to have good maintenance," Harrison said. "I didn't want to have surgery, so I've done stem cells pretty regularly to try and combat any more further damage happening. I've done anti-inflammatories and arthritis medication and pain pills, and nerve pain pills and muscle relaxers and rigorous physical therapy."So it just got to the point where, the last month, I think all of December, I had numbness down my arm, and I couldn't feel my three fingers, and then I started to get kind of lightning bolts. I lost strength in my right arm, and I was in a really bad spot."Harrison recalled being on heavy doses of intense pain medication. She even went as far as to get an epidural shot simply to numb the pain. Nothing worked, leading her to see one of the UFC's specialists in New York, who informed her she was in danger of incurring permanent damage.It got to a point where Harrison went five days of barely sleeping, she said. The lightning-bolt-like pains were so sharp, they'd wake her up randomly.After the surgery, Harrison admitted that she wondered whether she had finally met her match. With how close she’d gotten to her big superfight, that doubt only grew worse during the peak of her recovery process."Obviously, I was devastated," Harrison said. "I think there's something to be said about being on the one-yard line and fumbling. That's how it felt. I was right there. So close, and I didn't get it done. "It was a hard pill to swallow, but also I'm grateful for the team around me and the people around me who are like, 'Listen, of course, we want you to fight, but your health is first. Do you want to have permanent nerve damage? You want to be paralyzed? What are you talking about? This isn't even a question. Take care of yourself.’ So I'm very blessed to have the people around me that I have."With something as serious as a neck injury, it still seems incredible that Harrison is even returning to action within the same calendar year. And not just returning for any fight, but against one of the sport's best to ever do it.Only a handful of months ago did Harrison start feeling 100% again. She was in a limited position, to say the least, relegated to physical therapy neck exercises that consisted of simply looking up and down.Even now, Harrison still has two herniated discs left to fix once she's done competing. If she'd already fixed those too, she'd be riding off into the sunset of retirement, she said.Kayla Harrison returns to defend her belt against Amandes Nunes on Nov. 14.Chris Unger via Getty Images"I was in a neck brace for eight weeks," Harrison said. "I wasn't allowed to lift more than 20 pounds. So to go from training for the biggest fight of my life at 100 miles per hour to that was like a big drop, and then the mental side of it that comes with that. To go to freakin’ — I mean, I don't even know. Like, I wasn't even crawling. I was standing completely still, and to try and claw my way back to the shape I'm in now, and the confidence I have now — it was a very long process that I kind of had to trust God with."I was in a lot of pain, still. The nerve pain went away immediately, like immediate relief, but the muscles, the bone healing, all of that, doing the PT — you go from sparring five rounds and you're the baddest woman on the planet, to in a straight neck brace.""I feel like I was very humbled by this," she added.Harrison hasn't fought since June 2025, when she became the UFC women’s bantamweight champion by submitting Julianna Peña with a second-round kimura.This is the longest inactive stretch of Harrison's 20-fight career (19-1) since she began in June 2018. Had Nunes not returned from her own retirement to make this fight possible, Harrison admitted she probably wouldn't have come back post-surgery.Even now, there's a world where this is the last fight for both of the bantamweight legends."I mean, anything is possible," Harrison said. "What if they offer me $10 million a fight? I'm just saying anything is possible. I'm already satisfied with my career, let's get that straight. I could walk away tomorrow and be fine and have peace. This is for me. I want Amanda, a worthy opponent. She brings out the best in me. I think I bring out the best in her, and it is worth my time and my effort to challenge myself against Amanda, and may the best woman win, and I'm excited about it. But I don't ever have to fight again. I'm good."