Kayla Harrison hasn’t fought since losing a decision to Larissa Pacheco in the 2022 PFL lightweight tournament final. Pacheco is open to another bout — under the right circumstances.
Pacheco, who cut down to featherweight to compete in the 2023 season and beat Julia Budd this past April, said on this week’s episode of MMA Fighting’s Trocação Franca podcast that she likes the idea of a fourth fight with Harrison in the upcoming PFL pay-per-view division.
Pacheco and Harrison headlined PFL’s final card of 2022 on pay-per-view and Pacheco said it was a success. For the next year, Pacheco is confident that the PFL’s PPV would sell even better with the promotional debut of former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou and YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul, who owns equity in the PFL.
“They bring a lot of audience, they are very famous,” Pacheco said. “We know there’s still a huge disparity between women’s MMA and men’s MMA, so I think that would be a great chance to make [women’s MMA] more popular and normalize the fact that women can fight, that women are strong, that women are as good as men.”
The PFL did not disclose how many pay-per-views were sold in November, but Pacheco said “we’ve exceeded expectations.” Pacheco revealed she wasn’t paid extra based on PPV sales, and she was not aware of how many people bought the card. That said, Pacheco feels she should be paid “the same” of Harrison now that she has beaten the two-time Olympic gold medalist.
“We went there and showed we can headline perfectly,” Pacheco said. “It was a beautiful fight. To this day I watch that fight and go, ‘Damn!’ And I think we can put on an even better fight now because we’re better prepared. I’m open to it.”
Pacheco returns to action in the co-main event of Friday’s PFL 5 against Amber Leibrock, aiming to improve her winning streak to eight and secure a spot in the featherweight playoffs. She guarantees she’s not overlooking Leibrock, and Pacheco knows that she’s the one to beat in the PFL now.
“When I fought Kayla, I knew that beating that woman would make everybody else hunt me, so I would have a target on my back in this season,” Pacheco said. “I had no vacation after the Kayla fight. I knew I would have a target on my back. I can’t rest, I can’t relax thinking I can beat anyone only because I beat a great athlete and let that go inside my head. I’m ready and I want to be champion again.”
“I’m better [than Leibrock],” she added. “I’m more experienced, and I think my game is more complete, whereas hers is more limited. I see a good fight for me, but she has two arms and two legs and it’s always dangerous. I’m ready for everything.”