Kayla Harrison has had several painful surgeries throughout her illustrious career, but says nothing came close to this year’s experience.The UFC women’s bantamweight champion returns to the Octagon on November 14 to defend her belt against returning legend Amanda Nunes, just nine months after undergoing neck surgery.Harrison faces former two-division champion Nunes in the co-main event of UFC 334 next monthGettyHarrison was originally scheduled to face Nunes at UFC 324 in January, but withdrew on short notice to undergo neck surgery for several hernias.After all went well, the American later fought back tears during an update on her procedure from a hospital bed in New York.Harrison promised Nunes and fans she would return and reschedule the fight, and the pair are now set to co-main event a stacked UFC 334 card at New York’s Madison Square Garden.The 36-year-old joined the Deep Waters podcast on UFC on Paramount+ this week and revealed how her comeback to arguably the biggest fight of her career is coming along.Harrison talks ‘most serious’ surgery ever“I feel awesome,” Harrison said.“To be honest, it was rough at the beginning. Obviously physically, but mentally, too.“It was such a big surgery. I went 10 years without surgery. I had reconstructive knee surgery in between my two Olympics and then I went 10 years with no surgery.“But in the last four years, I’ve had four surgeries back-to-back-to-back-to-back and this one was the most serious.”Harrison explained how she had a two-level fusion neck surgery, which is typically used to stabilise vertebrae in the neck and ultimately relieve pressure on the spinal cord or nerves.She could barely lift her arm just weeks out from the first scheduled fight against Nunes due to the ‘worst pain ever,’ which she described as ‘lightning bolts.’Harrison won her first UFC title in Newark last year by submitting PenaGettyNunes was meant to get her chance to fight for the title at UFC 324 – but Harrison was forced to pull out to get neck surgeryGettyThat was caused by five herniated discs, and Harrison originally wanted to get disc replacement because it is better for longevity and mobility, but was told by doctors she would need to be operated on.Harrison questioned being herself again“I thought, ‘Am I ever going to be okay again?'” Harrison added.“It got to the point again where I was questioning if I was ever going to feel like myself again, but I’m back.” Harrison still boasts a visible scar on her neck from the surgery, but says she is feeling better than ever ahead of the first defence of her title.The former PFL star, 19-1 in her professional MMA career, claimed UFC gold in July 2025 with a second-round submission of Julianna Pena.She defeated Holly Holm and Ketlen Vieira in her first two UFC bouts and is just one of two athletes, alongside Henry Cejudo, to have won an Olympic gold medal and a UFC title.Nunes hasn’t fought for well over three years but has vowed to come back stronger than ever at UFC 334GettyHer opponent, Nunes, was once recognised as the greatest female fighter on the planet.Nunes is just one of four simultaneous two-division champions in UFC history and is tied with Valentina Shevchenko for the most title fight wins among females (11) in the promotion’s history.talkSPORT's UFC pound-for-pound rankingstalkSPORT.com has collectively voted on the best fighters to form a regularly updated UFC pound-for-pound (P4P) rankings system for the rest of 2026 and beyond.Our P4P list will be updated regularly based on performances in the Octagon — with wins, records, title wins and defences, calibre of opponents, methods of victory and much more all determining who makes it.UFC champions Islam Makhachev, Joshua Van and Sean Strickland feature – but big stars such as Alex Pereira and Tom Aspinall miss out.