{"id":633764,"date":"2026-04-27T09:19:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T09:19:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/633764\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T09:19:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T09:19:15","slug":"kayla-harrison-eyes-return-after-injury-timeline-set","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/633764\/","title":{"rendered":"Kayla Harrison eyes return after injury, timeline set"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Reigning Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) women\u2019s Bantamweight champion Kayla Harrison is closing in on her Octagon return after being sidelined earlier this year due to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/ufc-324-news-results-paramount-streaming-updates-mma\/415848\/ufc-324-kayla-harrison-would-have-been-paralyzed-without-immediate-career-saving-surgery\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">serious neck injury<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Now, the champ appears ready to resume business.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Speaking ahead of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/ufc-results\/438143\/ufc-vegas-116-live-results-highlights-play-by-play-sterling-vs-zalal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">UFC Vegas 116<\/a> broadcast (Sat., April 25, 2026), Harrison revealed she\u2019s been medically cleared and is back in full training.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201cOh, your girl\u2019s back, baby, I\u2019m back,\u201d Harrison said. \u201cI\u2019m not going to make any announcements, but yeah, I think there\u2019s a timeline. I\u2019m back, I\u2019m back on the mats, feeling good. I was sore as all get out last week. Last week was like my first week back training. But yeah, I\u2019m feeling good. I just feel really blessed to be able to do what I love and be able to come back. You never know, with surgery, you never know, but especially with the neck, it\u2019s a scary thing. So, I\u2019m happy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Given the UFC\u2019s already packed numbered event schedule \u2014 and Harrison\u2019s notoriously difficult weight cut to 135 pounds \u2014 a return in late 2026 seems most likely.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">If timing lines up, her long-awaited showdown with Nunes could land at Madison Square Garden in November, giving the promotion a massive co-main or headlining attraction for its annual New York City card.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Time will tell \u2014 but Harrison is officially back in the mix.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">To checkout UFC\u2019s upcoming schedule of events click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/pages\/ufc-mma-schedule\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reigning Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) women\u2019s Bantamweight champion Kayla Harrison is closing in on her Octagon return after&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":633765,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,40762,785,85,1396,179146,46234,14855],"class_list":{"0":"post-633764","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-latest-ufc-mma-news","12":"tag-mma","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-ufc-news","15":"tag-ufc-on-paramount","16":"tag-ufc-videos","17":"tag-videos"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=633764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633764\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/633765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=633764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=633764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=633764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}