Larissa Pacheco pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the year while getting one back on her rival.
Kayla Harrison entered 2022 PFL Championships with two wins over Pacheco (19-4), but defeating someone a third time in combat sports is a tall order, even for the previously-undefeated Olympian. With the PFL lightweight championship on the line, Pacheco capped off an impressive 2022 campaign by winning a unanimous decision over Harrison (15-1).
“I already knew it was going to be an upset,” Pacheco told reporters through an interpreter at the post-fight news conference (via MMA Sucka). “I came here ready to screw with everyone’s bets and put on one hell of a fight.”
It was a solid performance from the Brazilian, who took the judges’ scorecards without debate from her opponent. Pacheco stayed in the pocket with Harrison, and met her in the clinch where she typically excels, ultimately doing enough to win three of the five rounds.
While happy with the outcome of the biggest fight and win of her career, Pacheco believes her performance could have been better.
“It was good, but it wasn’t great,” Pacheco said. “There’s a lot of things that happened this fight that I thought were going to go one way for me and they didn’t. I obviously noticed that she was being frustrated with a lot of her takedown attempts, and with that, I gained confidence. I’m just happy I was able to stick with the strategy, stick with what we had planned in order to come out on top. Kayla has a rematch whenever she wants. I’m happy to give it to her and I know she’s going to come back even stronger.”
The pair first met in May 2019, where Harrison won by unanimous decision during the PFL regular season. The result was the same when they met in the championship final later that year. Pacheco then went on a streak of five straight first-round finishes leading to the third meeting with Harrison.
“I just noticed that I’m as good as her, and that’s what I picked up on in those first two outings,” Pacheco said. “I noticed in every single one of her fights, the girls that come in to fight her, they come in defeated. They know the outcome of the fight. Whereas I was staying close to her in our first two outings and tonight as well, because I wanted the opportunity to land a big hand. I wanted the opportunity to connect a knee as she was coming to take me down. I knew I could capitalize on this moment, and tonight was the night.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for 2022 PFL Championships.
