Kayla Harrison Opens Up on Doubts After Neck Surgery

Kayla Harrison has said she considered retirement after her latest injury. The UFC women's bantamweight champion said she questioned her future in the sport while recovering from extensive neck surgery earlier this year.

The injury put her title reign on hold. Harrison had been scheduled to face UFC Hall of Famer Amanda Nunes at UFC 324 but was forced to withdraw and undergo a long recovery. The UFC chose not to create an interim title in her absence, and ten months after the operation she is set to meet Nunes in the co-main event of UFC 334 in November.

Four surgeries in four years

Speaking on the Deep Waters podcast, Harrison said she now feels awesome, but the start of the process was rough, physically and even more so mentally. She explained that she had reconstructive knee surgery between her two Olympic Games and then went a full decade without another operation. In the last four years, however, she has had four surgeries back to back, and the neck procedure was the most serious of them.

At one point she found herself wondering whether she would ever be okay again. "It got to the point where I was questioning if I was ever going to feel like myself again," she said, before adding that she is back.

From Olympic gold to UFC gold

Harrison, a two-time Olympian and judo gold medalist, won the bantamweight title from Julianna Peña at UFC 316 last year. She has not competed since that night. Her UFC record stands at 3-0, with additional wins over Ketlen Vieira and Holly Holm. The bout with Nunes in November will be her first since UFC 316.