ATLANTA – Rose Namajunas says Kayla Harrison vs. Amanda Nunes will be very good for women’s MMA.
Newly crowned UFC bantamweight champion Harrison (19-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) is expected to make her first title defense against the returning Nunes (23-5 MMA, 16-2 UFC), who once reigned over both the 135 and 145-pound divisions.
Former strawweight champion Namajunas (13-7 MMA, 11-6 UFC), who meets Miranda Maverick (15-5 MMA, 8-3 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 69 co-headliner (ESPN, ESPN+) at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, gave her take on the matchup.
“I’m definitely very excited for that fight,” Namajunas told MMA Junkie and other reporters during Wednesday’s pre-fight news conference. “It’ll be interesting to see how Kayla Harrison deals with Amanda’s striking. I think that’s probably mostly what everybody might be thinking or might be the big question, but Kayla, her striking is looking better and better each time she gets in there. So, it’ll be interesting to see if she can get her hands on Amanda, but Amanda’s got great jiu-jitsu, and she’s super strong.”
When asked who she thinks will win, Namajunas admitted that her answer is a little biased.
“Prediction? I don’t know if I have one yet, but I love them both, and Kayla Harrison made me a huge fan of hers,” Namajunas said. “Just the way that she represented her faith in Jesus, and she just put it out there, and spreads the Gospel. I’m a little biased when it comes to that, so I’m going to be rooting for her, but Amanda Nunes is obviously the greatest so, yeah, I’ll be watching.”
