Earlier this week, Amanda Nunes made a huge step towards her UFC comeback as talks continue for a title super fight against Kayla Harrison.
Earlier this year at UFC 316, Kayla Harrison became one of the greatest female athletes ever when she became the women’s bantamweight champion after dominating Julianna Pena in the co-main event.
Immediately after the fight, Harrison was faced with her potential next opponent as the consensus greatest female fighter of all time Amanda Nunes stormed into the cage for an impromptu face off.
Not long after their face off, Harrison was advised to retire instead of fighting Amanda Nunes by Demetrious Johnson, which didn’t sit well with the newly crowned champion.
Kayla Harrison offers to bypass rules to book Nunes fight
‘The Lioness’ had been talking about potentially making her return to the cage for a while but when the promotion signed Harrison and she became champion, it became a no-brainer.
Despite that, because the Brazilian officially retired from the sport in 2023 and stepped out of competition, she was removed from the drug testing pool.
And earlier this week, Nunes made a big step towards her comeback to the sport when she officially re-entered the drug testing pool and registered her first test session.
However, she now needs to be in the pool for at least six months before she can compete in the cage, somewhat delaying her fight against Harrison.
While in attendance for UFC 318 this past Saturday, the champion claimed that she is willing to bypass the rules for a ‘small fee’, and fight Nunes without her being in the testing pool for the required period of time.
Dana White reveals he’s considering controversial exemption
If playing by the rules, Nunes won’t be eligible to compete until January 2026, which leaves Harrison waiting for a considerable amount of time.
Despite that, with the UFC now running their own drug testing, the rules can undoubtedly be bent, and boss Dana White has admitted he will consider giving Nunes an exemption so that they can schedule the fight to take place this year.
“Hm, I don’t know. We’ll definitely look into it. I don’t hate it,” White said during the UFC 318 post-fight press conference.
Not only did White reveal he is considering giving out a controversial exemption, but the UFC boss revealed that he doesn’t trust putting Jon Jones on the future White House event after the former champion re-entered the testing pool himself recently after an extremely brief retirement.