Kayla Harrison is perturbed by how the PFL went about making this year’s championship event a pay-per-view.
While putting the 2022 PFL Championships on pay-per-view means the company can benefit from buys, the fighters won’t, according to Harrison. But that’s not the only thing irking the two-time Olympic gold medalist. It’s the short-notice manning in which the pay-per-view was introduced, with the price of $49.99 being announced less than two weeks ago.
“I mean, I’m annoyed slightly if I’m being honest,” Harrison said on “The MMA Hour.” … Obviously I’m not a member of the board or a decision maker, but – what does Cyborg keep saying? ‘Let’s see if she sells pay-per-view.’ So from a personal standpoint, it’s a little frustrating to me that they make the first pay-per-view fight a fight that I’ve already had twice, and they only give it like a month to sell. I was kinda like, ‘Oh, well.’
“I mean, I get paid the same. It’s no skin off my back. I would’ve liked to have helped promote it better. I think you say it at the beginning of the year: ‘Hey, the season starts now on ESPN, and at the end of the year we’re going to pay-per-view. You’re gonna get to watch people’s lives change.’ That’s my opinion.”
Two-time champion Harrison (15-0) is facing Larissa Pacheco (18-4) for a third time in Friday’s women’s lightweight final at Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York, but either way, she expects – or at least hopes – people will tune in.
“I have a job to do Friday night,” Harrison said. “My job is to get in the cage and fight, to go out and to cement my legacy, and to continue on that path. I hope people tune in because they want to see greatness in the making. I’m not there yet. We all know I’m not there yet, but I promise you I’m gonna get there. And when I do, you’re gonna want to have witnessed all of it, because I’m a bad motherf*cker, and you can’t stop me. You want to watch.”
The 2022 PFL finals take place Friday at Hulu Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York. The main card streams on ESPN+ pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN+.
