As a top UFC women’s bantamweight contender, Joselyne Edwards rightfully deserves a title shot based on her position alone. However, her championship ambitions could be fulfilled as early as next month, after the promotion handed her a backup role at UFC 334 at Madison Square Garden.

Sources close to MMA Fighting confirmed that the Panamanian fighter would serve as the backup for the UFC 334 co-main event bantamweight bout between Kayla Harrison (c) and Amanda Nunes on November 14.

For Edwards, the backup role at UFC 334 would be a golden chance to fight for the championship. She has earned her place by riding a 5-fight winning streak at 135 pounds and finishing four of those opponents. Plus, she currently holds the No. 1 position in the meta rankings and No. 2 in the media rankings of the bantamweight division.

That run poised the UFC to entrust her with the role of backup for the Harrison vs. Nunes fight.

Despite Joselyne Edwards getting a potential life-changing opportunity, her road to getting her hands on a title fight is definitely not straightforward. 

To start, the 31-year-old bantamweight has to make the bantamweight championship limit of 135 pounds alongside the UFC 334 co-headliners. A violation of even one pound could immediately eliminate her from the backup role. Even then, there is no guarantee she would fight for the title.

If Joselyne Edwards replaces the challenger Amanda Nunes at UFC 334, she would fight for the bantamweight belt, since the champion would be defending it.

Last year, Islam Makhachev defended the lightweight belt against Renato Moicano at UFC 311 after challenger Arman Tsarukyan pulled out right before the fight.

But a scenario involving the champion Kayla Harrison pulling out would make the situation a little more complex for Edwards.

In those circumstances, the UFC could make her bout against Amanda Nunes a non-title bout, or they could introduce an interim belt. Historically, the promotion has made such decisions before.

In April 2016, Daniel Cormier pulled out of his scheduled 205-pound title defense rematch against Jon Jones at UFC 197 due to a leg injury. As a result, the UFC swiftly replaced ‘DC’ with Ovince St. Preux, who faced Jones for the interim belt.

These are some of the possible scenarios Joselyne Edwards could find herself in ahead of her UFC 334 backup role. However, besides the Panamanian fighter being selected for her position in the rankings and ongoing win streak, there is another reason that could possibly have prompted the UFC to arrange a backup for the Harrison vs. Nunes bout. 

Joselyne Edwards could help save UFC 334 from potential weight misses and medical scares

Kayla Harrison has never missed weight in her judo or MMA career, but her struggle to make 135 pounds has been a hellish experience.

Before joining the UFC, the Ohio native competed in the PFL women’s lightweight division, making 155 pounds. She disclosed that her walk-around weight sits near 165 pounds and that it was an easy cut in her previous promotion. But Harrison now performs in the bantamweight division, which carries a 135-pound limit.

In that case, the 36-year-old has to drop approximately 30 pounds from her lean frame to reach the bantamweight limit, and the process she described is outright excruciating.

In an interview with TMZ, Harrison revealed that she was hospitalized one week before her fight against Ketlen Vieira at UFC 307 in October 2024. Harrison experienced severe physical strain and urinating blood as a result of her extreme weight cut to make 135 pounds.

Later, she described her weight cutting as pure “torture.”

“It’s torture,” Harrison told Ariel Helwani before the UFC 316 title fight against Julianna Peña. “But everything I’ve wanted is on the other side of that torture. I feel like I become refined in the fire. It’s a very lonely process. It’s a much harder mental grind than I expected.”

Beyond the horrors of the weight cut facing the UFC 334 co-main event fighters, a medical emergency involving either fighter could also happen. Harrison suffered a neck injury before her fight against Nunes at UFC 324, which forced the entire bout to be scrapped.

In 2017, Amanda Nunes also withdrew from her UFC 213 main event fight against Valentina Shevchenko after falling ill right before the event, resulting in the fight being canceled entirely. A backup, however, gives the promotion protection to keep the fight intact, even though it alters the event.

Now, Joselyne Edwards has been tasked with fulfilling this duty at UFC 334, and we have to anticipate whether her hard work could miraculously land her at the co-main event spot.