Kayla Harrison Out of UFC 324, Apologizes to Amanda Nunes in Video After Surgery

UFC fans will have to wait a while longer before they get to see arguably the most anticipated women's fight in MMA history.

UFC women's bantamweight champion Kayla Harrison is out for her title defense against former two-division champion Amanda Nunes at UFC 324 on Jan. 24 after surgery on her neck injury. The fight between Harrison and Nunes is expected to be postponed to a later date and Harrison apologized to Nunes in her video update.

Damon Martin of MMA Fighting was first to report the details.

It has not yet been announced if a fight from the preliminary card will be elevated, so here's the lineup for UFC 324 main card as things currently stand:

• Justin Gaethje vs. Paddy Pimblett (interim lightweight championship)
• Sean O'Malley vs. Song Yadong
• Waldo Cortes-Acosta vs. Derrick Lewis
• Jean Silva vs. Arnold Allen

The UFC 324 prelims feature former strawweight champion Rose Namajunas taking on Natalia Silva in a flyweight matchup and former flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo facing Umar Nurmagomedov in a bantamweight bout, so perhaps one of those fights will be elevated to juice up the main card.

Harrison hasn't fought since defeating Julianna Pena to win the UFC bantamweight title in June. On the night of Harrison's victory, Nunes announced that she was ending her retirement from 2023 to face the two-time Olympic judo gold medalist.

Harrison and Nunes were once training partners at American Top Team in Florida, and while they never had a particularly close relationship, their familiarity with one another added even more intrigue to their matchup. Nunes is widely regarded as the greatest women's MMA fighter of all time, being the only female fighter to hold two UFC belts simultaneously when she won the bantamweight and featherweight titles.

UFC 324 marks the beginning of the company's historic partnership with Paramount+. The partnership officially ended the longstanding pay-per-view model, as there will be a total of 13 numbered events in 2026 featured on the streaming platform with a subscription at no additional cost.

Harrison and Nunes added some much-needed star power to the UFC's debut on Paramount+, so this development is undoubtedly disappointing for the fans. Still, the delay will only allow anticipation to build even further for Harrison and Nunes' eventual showdown in the Octagon.