Kayla
Harrison will begin her bid for a three-peat as Professional
Fighters League champion on May 6.
The two-time Olympic gold medalist will face Marina
Mokhnatkina in a 155-pound bout that will serve as the PFL 3
main event at the Esports Stadium Arlington in Arlington, Texas. In
the co-headliner, 2021 welterweight champion Ray Cooper
III will square off against Magomed
Umalatov at 170 pounds. The main card airs on ESPN2 beginning
at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, while prelims stream on ESPN+ at 5:30 p.m.
ET/2:30 p.m. PT.
Two other bouts complete the evening’s main card: Anthony
Pettis vs. Myles Price
in a rescheduled lightweight bout that was originally supposed to
take place at PFL 1, and Rory
MacDonald vs. Brett
Cooper at welterweight.
Seven bouts were announced for the preliminary draw: Magomed
Magomedkerimov vs. Joao
Zeferino at welterweight; Genah
Fabian vs. Julia Budd at
lightweight; Sadibiou Sy vs. Nikolai Aleksakhin at welterweight;
Larissa
Pacheco vs. Zamzagul
Fayzallanova at lightweight; Gleison
Tibau vs. Jarrah Al Silawi at welterweight; Olena Kolesnyk vs.
Abigail
Montes at lightweight and Vanessa
Melo vs. Martina
Jindrova at lightweight.
Harrison elected to re-sign with the PFL after testing the waters
of free agency. The judoka is 12-0 in MMA and has rolled through
all competition en route to capturing PFL lightweight championships
in 2019 and 2021. Ten of her 12 triumphs have come inside the
distance.
Russia’s Mokhnatkina is on a two-bout winning streak that includes
a decision win against Claudia
Zamora in her PFL debut last August. The Sanford MMA product is
6-2 during her professional MMA career, with four submission
triumphs to her credit.
Also a two-time champion, Cooper is in the midst of a six-bout
winning streak in PFL competition. He capped off his most recent
170-pound title campaign with a third-round KO of Magomedkerimov at
the PFL Championships this past October.
Anchored at Eagles MMA, Umalatov is undefeated in 11 pro outings
thus far — including two under the PFL banner. Most recently, the
Russian defeated Leandro
Silva via unanimous decision last August.