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Kayla Harrison’s coach downplays past experience with Amanda Nunes playing any real part in UFC 334 fight  

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22 hours ago

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Kayla Harrison’s coach downplays past experience with Amanda Nunes playing any real part in UFC 334 fight  

As Kayla Harrison prepares to face Amanda Nunes in the UFC 334 co-main event, a lot of the focus for the fight is going to center around them previously training together at American Top Team and even sharing the same coaches at times.

But Mike Brown, who previously coached Nunes and has served as Harrison's head coach since the first day she stepped foot in the gym, says that narrative is really being blown out of proportion. While Brown knows that Harrison and Nunes crossed paths from time to time, they were never that close long before they were scheduled to compete for the women's bantamweight championship.

“It's a big gym,†Brown told MMA Fighting. “There's a lot of training partners. They weren't training partners that often. Very seldom.â€

Of course, Brown gets pulled into that conversation a lot because he did coach both fighters but even that doesn't really cause a conflict of interest. At least in his book.

“I have a job,†Brown explained. “I work for Kayla and I work for ATT. That's my job. I trained with Amanda, but I was never her official head coach. But I did work with her for a handful of fights.

“But this is business. It's a big fight, and they're both going to make a bunch of money and everyone is in a good situation.â€

Now Brown obviously has an intimate knowledge about the good, the bad and the ugly working with both fighters but even that doesn't necessarily serve as an advantage.

Nunes left American Top Team, and effectively started her own gym, and that's continued as she prepares for her comeback from retirement. But Brown knows that Harrison and Nunes both have enough footage out there that the strategy come Saturday night isn't going to be some revolutionary change from what each has done in the past.

“I think they both each other's strengths and weaknesses,†Brown said. “Amanda's a big power puncher and everyone knows that. Kayla is a world class grappler and a multiple world champion, a world champion in judo, so there's no secrets in what each fighter's going to want to do.

“I don't think you would have had to coach them to figure that out. I think everyone knows what everyone wants to do here. It comes down to who can implement their game plan.â€

Since the day she started in the sport, Harrison has long talked about defining her legacy by becoming the greatest of all-time.

With two Olympic gold medals in judo along with a UFC championship and several PFL championships, Harrison could already make a compelling argument as the greatest combat sports athlete in history.

That said, Brown acknowledges that Nunes' accolades are undeniable and adding that win to her resume should help separate Harrison from any past competition when it comes to that greatest of all-time conversation.

“I believe so just because of her track record,†Brown said about Harrison. “Her near perfect record. Amanda's beaten every champion I believe at 135 except for Kayla. She's beat every champ that's ever been at the weight. That's pretty damn impressive except for Kayla. Obviously, she's done more in the sport than Kayla, but Kayla's record is near perfect. One blemish with [Larissa] Pacheco in their third fight. She had beat her twice before that.

“She's clearly head and shoulders above the competition. She also has a very high finish rate I would consider her the greatest of all-time if she wins this fight.â€

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MMA fighter Jindrich Janecka resuscitated after cardiac arrest in cage

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6 hours ago

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November 12, 2026

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MMA fighter Jindrich Janecka resuscitated after cardiac arrest in cage

Jindrich Janecka went into
cardiac arrest during his bout against Tomas
Skalicky at Cage Game 2, according to Oktagon
MMA chief medic Norbert Bidrman.

Janecka appeared hurt after a kick to the body and was later
knocked out by a punch. The bout took place under Oktagon MMA's
stand-and-bang rules, which prohibit ground fighting.

Oktagon MMA chief medic describes CPR, defibrillation and
Janecka regaining consciousness at Cage Game 2

Bidrman said the medical team performed CPR, delivered a shock and
administered oxygen. Janecka regained consciousness in the cage and
was able to speak with the team before an ambulance took him to the
hospital. Bidrman said a blow to the chest may have triggered an
abnormal heart rhythm, but the cause had not been confirmed.

“I'm the head medic here at Oktagon. We just had a very emergency
situation here, where one of the fighters, specifically Jindra,
went into a sudden cardiac arrest. After some cardiopulmonary
resuscitation, we delivered a shock. He was given oxygen and
brought back to life. He is fully oriented to place, time, and
person. And BRNO, the ambulance service, whom we greatly thank for
arriving on time, has taken him over, and he is now already at the
hospital. Jindra, I want to repeat, was already fully conscious in
the cage. He was communicating with us. And now we just want to
find the cause of why this happened. Most likely this could have
been some kind of arrhythmia caused by a blow to the chest that he
received earlier,†Bidrman said in a statement shared on X.

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MMA

UFC 334 | Pro fighters make their picks for Kayla Harrison vs. Amanda Nunes title fight

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15 hours ago

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November 11, 2026

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UFC 334 | Pro fighters make their picks for Kayla Harrison vs. Amanda Nunes title fight
Trending:

Josh Hokit compared to Cain Velasquez by Ciryl Gane's coach ahead of UFC 334 showdown

The UFC heads to Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York, for UFC 334. In the co-main event, Kayla Harrison defends her women's bantamweight title against Amanda Nunes. Heading into the bout, Harrison is a -196 favorite while the former champ is a +152 underdog on FanDuel.

Ahead of the bout at UFC 334, BJPENN.com reached out to several pro fighters to get their predictions for the women's bantamweight title fight. The pros believe Nunes will upset Harrison in her return and reclaim the bantamweight title.

BJPENN.com Fighter Picks Kayla Harrison vs. Amanda Nunes:

Julian Erosa, UFC featherweight: I think Nunes. She has less muscle than Harrison, and muscle takes oxygen, and I think Nunes wins in the later rounds.

Dustin Jacoby, UFC light heavyweight: This is a good fight. Amanda is coming back, so there are some questions, and she has the knockout power. But, I do think Kayla will get the win with her wrestling.

Gillian Robertson, UFC strawweight: Amanda. I've trained with and known her for a long time, so I might be bias. But I do think she is the greatest woman in combat sports, and I think Amanda won't be scared of Kayla's judo and will be aggressive on the feet with her striking.

Mario Bautista, UFC bantamweight: I think Amanda Nunes gets the win. Kayla cuts a lot of weight, and I do worry about that with how hard Amanda hits.

Modestas Bukauskas, UFC light heavyweight: A very tough fight to pick. Kayla has been great in the UFC, but I can never pick against Amanda. Although she does have a layoff, I think she wins.

Terrance McKinney, UFC lightweight: I think Kayla Harrison wins. She will be able to take Amanda down, and Nunes will get tired as we have seen in the past. Kayla defends her belt.

***

Fighters picking Kayla Harrison: Dustin Jacoby, Terrance McKinney

Fighters picking Amanda Nunes: Julian Erosa, Gillian Robertson, Mario Bautista, Modestas Bukauskas

ICYMI: Pro fighters also made their picks for the UFC 334 main event featuring Ciryl Gane vs. Josh Hokit.

Who do you think will win the UFC 334 co-main event between Kayla Harrison and Amanda Nunes?

This article appeared first on BJPENN.COM

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MMA

Morning Report | Amanda Nunes thinks Ronda Rousey still refuses to discuss UFC 207 loss: ‘She never say my name’

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23 hours ago

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November 11, 2026

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Morning Report | Amanda Nunes thinks Ronda Rousey still refuses to discuss UFC 207 loss: ‘She never say my name’

Amanda Nunes wasn't expecting a call for a Ronda Rousey rematch anytime soon – especially with Rousey seemingly ignoring they fought altogether.

This Saturday, Nunes returns from a three-year retirement to challenge bantamweight champion Kayla Harrison in the co-main event of UFC 334 at Madison Square Garden in New York. “The Lioness†walked away from competition after a legendary 14-1 run that included a 48-second knockout win over Rousey at UFC 207, and lengthy title reigns at both 135 and 145 pounds.

Rousey also returned to competition in 2026, following a near-10-year layoff, defeating fellow women's combat sports pioneer Gina Carano at the inaugural MVP MMA event this past May. On the MIGHTYcast, Nunes was asked if Rousey reached out to her as a potential comeback opponent.

“Ronda, to this day, she doesn't acknowledge I fought her,†Nunes said. “She never say one word, she never say my name one time in her whole entire life. So they never called me.

“I'm UFC all the way. This was my dream, and I want to fight in the UFC. The UFC belt is the belt. This is the belt for me. I don't want to have any other belt on my wall, so that is the belt that I always chase and I'm going to get a brand new one soon.â€

A bout outside of the UFC was never a realistic possibility for Nunes, who was already tied to matchup with Harrison, her former training partner. The two were expected to fight at UFC 324 in January, but Harrison was forced to withdraw due to neck surgery and the fight was postponed.

So Nunes was free to continue training at her own pace and to enjoy Rousey vs. Carano as a fan.

“I think it was great for women's MMA,†Nunes said. “It was huge. Ronda has a lot of fans, have a lot more people that like her than hate her. I feel like she should look more for those people that's like her. For Gina, we have Gina from back in the day, it was amazing seeing Gina fight, so everybody was so excited and everybody wins with that fight.

“But I feel like Gina was so long out, she comes back to fight Ronda, I feel like she was not always that powerful just because Gina was out for so long and had problems. It was good for her to come back, Ronda helped her a lot to overcome so many things.â€

Nunes was also asked about her choice for a women's MMA Mount Rushmore, which she discussed on a recent episode of the Deep Waters podcast.

She named herself, and fellow UFC champions Valentina Shevchenko, Joanna Jedrzejczyk, and Zhang Weili, but noticeably omitted famous rivals Rousey and Cris Cyborg. Explaining her reasoning, Nunes said it was simply a matter of numbers and didn't intend any disrespect to either woman.

“Honestly, I can put them there, too,†Nunes said. “When I say those things, if I had more spots, I would have put them, too. I feel like Ronda, Cyborg's in that, I cannot pick four. We have a lot of great women out there that did so much, so I cannot get four. I don't want to get four, I want to get more than that.â€

Fair. Ciryl Gane insists he's not a cheater.

Silver. Matt Brown thinks Gane and Hokit are still second place to Tom Aspinall.

The Enemy Is The Inner Me. Robert Whittaker thinks Israel Adesanya's worst enemy… is himself!

Next? Denise Gomes thinks she's next for Mackenzie Dern, not Zhang Weili nor Tatiana Suarez.

Hate. Fans in Paris greeted Jake Paul with a loud “f*ck you†chant.

Out. Norma Dumont announces her departure from UFC.

UFC 334 media day live stream.

Dominick Cruz and Mayhem Miller.

Fighter vs. Writer. MMA Fighting's Damon Martin and UFC veteran Matt Brown look ahead to UFC 334, plus a behind-the-scenes story about Brown's fight with Stephen “Wonderboy†Thompson.

SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

The definitive fight week schedule.

New York-bound after all!

Bo Nickal vs. Yoel Romero (wrestling); RAF 16, Dec. 19

Weirdest move you’ve ever seen in a fight?

In all your years of watching fights what do you remember is the strangest move you saw any try to pull of (either successfuly or not)? Share some clips if you can.

I got thinking about this after that face humping clip someone shared the other day.

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