Kaya Harrison is a winner, a UFC champion, and has a major career decision ahead after beating Nunes

NEW YORK (AP) — Kayla Harrison draped her left arm around a member of her team and gingerly walked out of the octagon a winner, a champion — but with a major career decision ahead.

Harrison, a former MMA champion at 155 pounds, endured the arduous, often unhealthy process of cutting to 135 pounds for her dream fight against Amanda Nunes.

The 36-year-old Harrison also fought Saturday for the first time in 18 months following spinal fusion surgery in January for a neck injury that delayed this anticipated fight until UFC 334 at Madison Square Garden. She said she even might have suffered a broken foot in the fight.

How much more can Harrison — a two-time Olympic judo gold medalist — push herself to prove what, exactly?

“I am going to go back and talk to my team,” Harrison said. “I'm going to take my time and be with my kids. Get through the holidays. I get to have the holidays with my kids and actually eat and not be sweaty or hungry.”

With a resume that already has her in the UFC Hall of Fame, Nunes may be considered the greatest female fighter of all time.

Harrison staked her claim as the best of right now.

Harrison (20-1) can state that after she choked out Nunes in the fourth round in the co-main event and made the most of her first title defense at 135 pounds.

(Ciryl Gane successfully defended his heavyweight championship, sweeping the scorecards 48-47 over the five-round fight to win a unanimous decision and beat Josh Hokit in the main event of UFC 334 ).

Nunes (23-6) tried to wrestle with Harrison and ended the first two rounds flat on her back. Harrison landed a series of short punches and elbows to the head that seemed to tire her out, the weight cut wearing her out as much as they damaged Nunes.

Harrison — who walked out to “Eye of the Tiger” while the fighter better known as the “Lioness” stretched and bounced on her tiptoes ahead of Bruce Buffer’s introductions — wasted no time in the fourth round. Harrison grabbed Nunes by her right leg and tripped her to the canvas. Harrison pounced on Nunes’ back and applied the rear naked choke hold. Nunes quickly tapped to the astonishment of 19,740 fans at a sold-out MSG.

“I think I’m still in shock,” Harrison said.

Despite the anguish of injuries accumulated throughout her decorated mixed martial arts career, Harrison could still see the light. She had a reason to keep rehabbing: not only to make it to the biggest fight of her career, but to compete in a matchup that stood as one of the most hyped women’s fights in UFC history.

She’s used to proving she’s a champion at the highest level, from the Olympics to the cage, leaving only destruction in her wake.

No U.S. judoka — man or woman — had won an Olympic gold medal before Harrison beat Britain’s Gemma Gibbons in the women’s 78-kilogram-and-under division at the 2012 London Olympics. She won gold again four years later at the Rio de Janeiro Games and made her MMA debut in 2018.

Through it all, Harrison has been open about the years of physical and mental abuse inflicted by a former coach leading into the Olympics. She was victimized as a teen, revealing she even thought of quitting judo and of taking her own life. Harrison turned to her deep faith — “I trust God” — that has steadied her along the way, and she wrote a book about recognizing and overcoming trauma.

She raised the issue in her championship interview with announcer Joe Rogan in large part because she has turned into an advocate for survivors of abuse. Harrison speaks out candidly and without shame about her experience.

“Sometimes I can't believe my life,” Harrison said. “I was sexually abused at a young age and statistically, I'm not supposed to be here. So to go from that, if you told me at 6 years old this would be my life, at 16 years old, this would be my life, I wouldn't believe you. I'm just grateful.”

Harrison and Nunes were once training partners at American Top Team. Harrison was new to professional MMA in 2018 after her Olympic career ended and believed she had found a friend and a mentor in camp with Nunes. Nunes, already an established star, saw Harrison as a future star and rival and kept her distance from the hot new prospect who seemed destined for MMA stardom.

“I feel grateful for Amanda,” Harrison said. “She's a worthy opponent.”

Nunes bolted from the cage and could head back into retirement. She retired in 2023, citing burnout and a desire to spend more time with her wife as they raised their two young daughters.

Her legacy as one of the best to ever do it remains secure.

Harrison might not catch Nunes in terms of career accomplishments.

She doesn’t have to. She has the win.

See AP’s full sports coverage here

Brazil's Amanda Nunes, left, punches Kayla Harrison during a women's bantamweight title bout at the UFC 334 mixed martial arts event Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026 in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Ciryl Gane, of France,punches Josh Hokit, left, during a heavyweight title bout at the UFC 334 mixed martial arts event Sunday, Nov. 15, 2026 in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Kayla Harrison, left, grapples with Brazil's Amanda Nunes during a women's bantamweight title bout at the UFC 334 mixed martial arts event Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026 in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Kayla Harrison, left, knees Brazil's Amanda Nunes during a women's bantamweight title bout at the UFC 334 mixed martial arts event Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026 in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Kayla Harrison, left, punches Brazil's Amanda Nunes during a women's bantamweight title bout at the UFC 334 mixed martial arts event Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026 in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Officials said they expect airline schedules to fully recover by the end of the day Sunday after a nationwide ground stop that was initiated out of caution caused massive travel disruptions.

The longest flight stoppage in 25 years lasted more than four hours and ended around 8:15 p.m. ET Friday, allowing some domestic flights to take off from U.S. airports.

Of the 41,000 flights scheduled Saturday, more than 6,600 were canceled, according to FlightAware. Just over 1,300 of the more than 26,000 flights scheduled for Sunday were canceled, according to Cirium, an aviation analytics firm. That amounts to about 5.2% of scheduled flights. Prior to Friday, the average cancellation rate for U.S. departures was 3.4%.

But officials said the U.S. airspace was safe and operational and would recover well ahead of the Thanksgiving travel rush.

Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin said there was no indication the failure was related to a cyberattack and no lives were at risk.

Here’s what to know:

Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Bryan Bedford said the system was stable Saturday. Several thousand flights were able to fly after the ground stop, but ultimately, some 12,000 scheduled flights were unable to take off Friday, he said.

Officials acknowledged the disruption but said safety was paramount.

Bedford offered an apology for stranded travelers and thanked air traffic controllers, pilots and flight attendants for managing the fallout. He said officials were confident the system is operating safely or else they would keep airplanes on the ground.

American Airlines said in a statement Saturday night that some individual flights might still be canceled as it continued working to fully restore its operations. It urged travelers to check their flight statuses.

Airlines are obligated to offer free rebooking on another flight or a full refund if a flight is canceled.

Bedford said the administration was working closely with airlines and said they were waiving all terms and conditions.

Some airlines were allowing passengers to rebook if they had travel scheduled Friday or Saturday. Others extended the offer to people with reservations for Sunday or even Monday.

Bedford advised passengers to contact their airlines.

A contractor was replacing a section of the system’s old and discontinued copper wire with new fiber wire in a remote location Friday afternoon, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said Saturday. That kind of work has been happening across the country and across industries for decades, he said.

But on Friday, the router in that location started overloading the air traffic control system and causing intermittent disruptions to communications and radar feeds. When officials couldn’t quickly locate the cause of the overload, they grounded flights nationwide.

“We did that out of an abundance of caution,” Bedford said. “I’m sorry that we put you through this, but we did it for the right reasons.”

Officials stressed that the ground stop was not the result of a system outage or nefarious activity by a foreign actor. Duffy said officials were investigating whether contractor error or a faulty router was the cause.

The air traffic control modernization began last year after Congress approved $12.5 billion of funding. Duffy and the White House are pushing for $30 billion more to complete the work. About 70% of copper wire has been switched to fiber already, officials said Saturday.

Microsoft said Saturday that services were fully restored after its own massive outage. There was no indication the FAA ground stop was related to the service disruption that took Microsoft services offline Thursday, according to federal officials and a company spokesperson.

Over 430 million people use Microsoft 365 apps, Microsoft said on its website. Users reported Microsoft 365 services including Outlook, Teams and AI assistant Copilot were interrupted.

Two travelers sleep in the baggage claim area at Washington Dulles International Airport, in Chantilly, Va., Friday, Nov. 13, 2026, after the Federal Aviation Administration grounded flights nationwide. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

Baggage waits for travelers to claim in at Washington Dulles International Airport, in Chantilly, Va., Friday, Nov. 13, 2026, after the Federal Aviation Administration grounded flights nationwide. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

A traveler sleeps at Washington Dulles International Airport, in Chantilly, Va., Friday, Nov. 13, 2026, after the Federal Aviation Administration grounded flights nationwide. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

A display board shows canceled flights to the U.S., in Frankfurt, Germany, Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026. (Florian Wiegand/dpa via AP)

Passengers wait for their flights at George Bush Intercontinental Airport Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026, in Houston after the Federal Aviation Administration lifted nationwide ground stops. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)