Larissa Pacheco Expects to Knock Kayla Harrison Out in 2022 PFL Finals Matchup

If the Professional Fighters League’s Larissa Pacheco is accurate in her assessment, a million-dollar prize may be within her grasp.

In 2019, Pacheco joined the PFL and entered into its inaugural women’s lightweight bracket. The former Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight had moved up 10 pounds in her lone regional bout after leaving the UFC, beating future UFC talent Karol Rosa at featherweight. Over one year later, she stepped into the PFL cage at lightweight, and she drew the 3-0 Harrison only to drop a decision. The Brazilian bounced back with a quick armbar over Bobbi Jo Dalziel to reach the playoffs, and a decision win over Sarah Kaufman slotted her into the finals, in a rematch against Harrison.

This time, it took Harrison the full five rounds to get the win, but the two-time Olympic gold medalist cleanly swept every round and even earned a 50-43 score on one judge’s card. After those losses, Pacheco totally changed her life. Since then, she has won four fights in a row by first-round knockout, and in both the 2021 and 2022 seasons, she claimed the top seed in her division. This year, her next test will a rematch with Helena Kolesnyk, a woman she cleanly knocked out in 2021, but she definitively plans on facing Harrison in the finals. Pacheco spoke to Sherdog about her life following the Harrison bouts on Wednesday, confident that things will be different should they meet again.

“Since 2019, I have changed everything,” Pacheco admitted. “Today I [work] with physical trainer, psychologist, and endocrinologist, and I’m happy to show the result of that change with four first-round TKO wins.”

Pacheco did not hide her discomfort with all the hype over the two-time champ Harrison, who herself reached the playoffs with nine points and will take on Martina Jindrova in the semifinals. She is similarly frustrated with how fans address her and other notable female fighters.

“Of course, all the marketing over her bothers [me], but I just don’t let it affect me,” the 27-year-old remarked. “We must understand that Kayla is a national hero – Olympic Champion – I think it’s pretty natural that she is the big star of the show. Actually, what really bothers me is to see the prejudice some fans still have over my stereotype, saying things like, ‘This is not a woman, that's not fair.’ I always answer politely that my look has no relationship with my abilities. People must understand that fighters like myself and Amanda Nunes, we don’t want to be recognized by our sexual orientation, but for what we deliver inside the cage. Look at my last fights. I’m a jiu-jitsu black belt who got three TKOs against strikers in the last 12 months. I cannot be accused of not entertaining the fans.”

Pacheco, who does face another opponent that Harrison on Aug. 20, is laser focused on the unbeaten woman who has topped her twice. She addressed an interview given by Harrison’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz, who claimed that Harrison would be a betting favorite today against Cristiane Justino or Nunes.

“I totally disagree [that Harrison would be the favorite against Justino or Nunes],” Pacheco stated firmly. “Besides being pioneers, ‘Cyborg’ and Amanda are complete MMA fighters. I fought eight rounds with Kayla. She is strong in what she proposes to do, apply judo in MMA, but she is not skilled in striking – not even on the ground. She is in an evolving process of MMA. The fact is that most of her opponents enter the cage afraid of her size, athleticism and all the marketing. Kayla needs to improve a lot [of her] MMA abilities to be considered favorite against these two legends.”

While Harrison easily outworked Pacheco thanks to her grappling, Pacheco does not believe that Harrison is or was the most dangerous judo player in the game.

“I truly think Ronda [Rousey] was better than her on the ground for MMA, having more variations,” the Brazilian noted. “Kayla’s stabilization is very good, she is very strong, but she is still unable to punish while stabilizing and you could see by my clean face after both fights we did, that it was not difficult to fight her on the ground.”

Despite that Pacheco is not concerned with Harrison’s skills this year, or that the Olympian’s skills may not be as dangerous as others believe, she made sure to elucidate that she has no personal issues with her prospective adversary.

“Our backstage relation is of mutual respect, just like I have with all my opponents,” she explained.

When the subject of conversation turns to the result of that awaited trilogy match in the final of the PFL women’s lightweight tourney, the mutual respect mode is switched by total self-confidence. After two tears of complete renovation and four months training with Roan Carneiro in American Top Team Atlanta, Pacheco believes Kayla will not last till the 5th round if they both win their semifinals, against Kolesnyk and Jindrova, respectively, in August.

“Jindrova is a great fighter, but she is coming from lighter divisions and of course that favors Kayla,” Pacheco analyzed. “I also respect Helena a lot, but my goal is to knock her out once again. In the final, you can expect a totally different fight from two previous ones. My body has changed, my mind has changed, my power has changed, my [hands are] much heavier. Kayla is not used to absorbing punches [or having] her takedown game frustrated. If she passes over the first round, we will follow the strategy. She may reach 2nd or 3rd, but she will not reach the 5th round. I’m sure she [cannot] stand [with] my hands.”