Kayla Harrison vs. Amanda Nunes: UFC MSG Fight Preview

The countdown to the MSG card is officially on right now. Saturday, November the 14th, Madison Square Garden. The UFC always likes to go big when they go to the Big Apple, and we do have a big-time card in store. One of the fights, of course, is Kayla Harrison. Kayla Harrison against Amanda Nunes. You really could make the argument that this is the greatest woman's fight of all time as far as pedigree and caliber. There's been some good ones over the years. You know, you would say it is the biggest woman's fight of all time. The only thing that sort of takes a little bit of shine off that statement is the fact that Amanda Nunes has been retired, right? It's not like you have two fighters that are on a collision course and, right? Nunes is probably the best female fighter ever, in my opinion. And she stepped aside. She had a family and stuff. And Kayla Harrison is a freaking monster who, you know, stepped up, filled the void, became the champion. Now they're going head-to-head. So this really is as good as it gets. But just for the record, the UFC has slotted in Jocelyn Edwards as the replacement. And, you know, it's fascinating, the replacement. I've been covering the UFC a long time, and they didn't used to do this. Right? They didn't have the money and it was just, you know, whatever. The times change, right? They've been around a long time. They didn't used to do this, right? So they used to, like, have this big main event and they had these big fights and stuff. And they didn't have a backup plan. They really didn't. It was like, yeah, what happens if somebody gets hurt or somebody, like, you know, backs out of the fight a couple of days before the fight? Like, we don't have a plan. And it was almost, let's call it the John Jones effect, really. Right? Because in the old days, people would show up. I have a broken leg. Doesn't matter. I'm going to, like, whatever. It's a different era. So nobody ever pulled out or canceled before, really. Right? And even injuries, guys, you'd be like, yeah, I'm not going to tell them about the injury. I'll fight anyways. So John Jones, there was always, like, I don't know, like, something might happen with John Jones or something. And, of course, you know, going back to the Chael Sonnen and all that. When Sonnen was willing to step in on day's notice. And fighters don't... The other opponent, let's say you're, you know, you're getting ready for like a title fight or a big time fight or something. And you're training for like four months for somebody you're training for a specific fighter for four months. You're training for a specific style, right? You don't want to like, you know, find out two days before the fight. Oh yeah. By the way, that dude is out. This dude is in right. And that was the thing. John Jones is like, I'm not fighting people on two days notice. It doesn't work that way. And the thing is, though, UFC sell tickets, right? And these cards implode. And I don't know, about 10, 15 years ago, it happened a couple of times, like not in a row, but they had a bad run where like main events were blown up, big cards were blown up, and they really didn't have a backup plan. And everybody said at the time, why the hell don't you pay somebody to be ready to go, right? Now they do. Now they do. So Jocelyn Edwards, she'll get paid. She's training. She'll, like, have to be able to, like, make weight for that day type of deal. And this way, too, if you're Harrison and you're Nunes, you know at least, all right, if I'm Nunes, if Harrison gets hurt, then I'm like, okay, I know I'm fighting that. I know I'm fighting Edwards. And vice versa, right? So settles the confusion and also allows the UFC to sleep easier knowing that, all right, we got a replacement if something goes wrong. Now, if both fighters get hurt, then whatever, the fight just wasn't meant to be. Now, of course, this fight was supposed to be at the White House to begin with. And for the record, right now, Kayla Harrison is a minus 190 favorite in this fight, which I think is too high. I think it's too high. I have a lot of respect for Harrison. Like, she's a killer. She's, you know, she's got the pedigree. There's, you know, there's not a lot of negatives about her, besides the fact that, in my opinion, she's not Amanda Nunes, right? Like, she's also not that young either, right? Like, a lot of people, like, are throwing in the, you know, throwing in the, well, you know, Amanda Nunes is older and stuff like that. Kayla Harrison's 36 years old as well. But, you know, we're talking about, like, Kayla Harrison's a two-time gold medalist, guys. You know, like, you know, serious pedigree here. But this isn't Olympic wrestling. This is mixed martial arts. And Amanda Nunes has been off. She's refreshed. She's also just sort of had, like, a ton of time here. She, like, she didn't have to worry about a bunch of other fighters. You're Amanda Nunes. Like, she's coming back. She's fighting the best. So Amanda Nunes has been doing nothing but watching Kayla Harrison for the last year, two years, just knowing that, yeah, if I come back, she's going to be the one I'm going to have to fight. So you know that Nunes is going to be 1 million percent prepared for this. I'm buying in. I'm buying in to Nunes.