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.
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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.”