Kayla Harrison and Larissa Pacheco met in the PFL League lightweight finals in 2019, with two-time Olympic gold medalist Harrison taking home a million-dollar check in the end. As both fighters aim to advance to this year’s playoff semifinals, Pacheco admits she’s already looking ahead at a potential trilogy bout with Harrison.
Pacheco is 5-0 under the PFL when facing athletes not named Harrison, walking through Zamzagul Fayzallanova in 85 seconds in her first appearance this year, while the judoka kicked off this year’s season with a decision over Marina Mokhnatkina.
Pacheco & Harrison re-enter Friday’s cage against Genah Fabian & Kaitlin Young. The Brazilian discussed on the MMA Fighting Podcast Trocacao Franka exactly what that would mean to her in order to have a third date.
“Kayla does not represent my opponent. “She’s the champion, so I’m here to win and get this belt regardless of the [$1,000,000] prize. This is my job, this is what I love doing. This is my life, really. I’ve been doing this for 13 years, dedicating my life and my time and sacrificing moments with my family for a job I love doing.
“I want to be recognized as one of the best in fighting. I also want to make history in MMA. Beating Kayla will boost my name because she’s currently the best in the 155-pound division. It’s my goal to win. She’s the one I will beat .”
if she’s there in front of my eyes.
Pacheco and Harrison met twice in 2019,. Pacheco was the last MMA fighter who took the American Top Team star to a decision prior to the 2022 current seasons. The first match was Pacheco’s first under the PFL banner and her lightweight debut after a failed run as a featherweight on The Ultimate Fighter 28. The rematch took place seven months later, after she defeated Bobbi Jo Dalziel and Sarah Kaufman, and Pacheco recalls dealing with health issues related to a bad weight cut.
In light of all the hype surrounding the American Top Team star Pacheco believes it is absurd to refer to Harrison as one of the best pound for pound fighters in MMA.
” Too much marketing. She’s often won over inexperienced girls. It’s marketing, I believe. She’s the beauty queen of America. The world must love her because she is just too good .. They deify her way too much, but she’s only a judo fighter. She does perfectly what she’s been doing her entire life, which is judo. We can’t deny that. But, in all other aspects of MMA, MMA being a sport that mixes every martial art, her game is weak.
“She only does one thing. She might do that perfectly, but that’s all she does. Her fights are boring, they are not interesting to watch. They have all this marketing and deify her. But I don’t think she’s the world’s best pound for pound. There are athletes who are 1,000 times better than her. In fact, I think my game is much better than hers. I go out there and fight and deliver regardless of getting punched or kicked or taken down. I go out there and give my all because this is what people want to see. It’s not for us to watch people study each other at MMA events. We go there to watch fighting. This is how it has been since the dawn of time, when people were put in an arena to fight .”
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” I think she talks too often,” Pacheco said. “I don’t know if her mind is weak and she needs to keep saying things to feel better about herself but I don’t think she beats Amanda [Nunes] or [Cris] Cyborg. Although she’ll be required to play the boring game of grabbing [them] and taking it down, I doubt that her mind has what it takes [to win].. I don’t think she’s capable of beating these two high-level athletes, who have a well-rounded game and way more experience than her.”
Pacheco had to be removed from the 2021 playoffs because she failed to lose weight in time for Taylor Guardado’s clash. She said that those issues on the scale are in the past after working with a psychologist. Pacheco feels she learned some valuable lessons from Harrison after eight rounds in the PFL cage.
” If we take her to the ground (which I believe she will), I am getting prepared to defend my takedowns and block her attempts to get to it,” Pacheco stated. I believe in my abilities. I think I’m quite capable of knocking her out.”
