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Check out PFL’s 10 best knockouts in 2022.
PFL had arguably its best year yet in 2022.
Six new champions were crowned – including major upsets and highlight-reel finishes.
To celebrate its banner year, PFL put together a video compilation of its 10 best knockouts throughout the regular season and playoffs, which includes Olivier Aubin-Mercier’s $1 million finish.
Check out the promotion’s 10 best knockouts below.
“ESPN was truly happy with the show, so if they’re happy, we’re happy.”
LAS VEGAS – PFL president [autotag]Ray Sefo[/autotag] considers the promotion’s pay-per-view debut a success.
The 2022 PFL Championships, which took place at Hulu Theater in Madison Square Garden, featured a six-fight main card that streamed on on ESPN+ pay-per-view last month. Viewers were charged $49.99, and although the number of buys wasn’t revealed, Sefo was happy with the overall result.
“Everybody was happy with it,” Sefo told MMA Junkie on the World MMA Awards red carpet. “You’ve got to start somewhere, and we were happy with the outcome of the whole show. ESPN was truly happy with the show, so if they’re happy, we’re happy.”
In the night’s headliner, Larissa Pacheco pulled off a massive upset when she defeated two-time champion Kayla Harrison to capture the women’s lightweight title. Brendan Loughnane also broke out as a star when he defeated standout wrestler Bubba Jenkins to claim the featherweight title.
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PFL’s biggest star, Harrison, suffered her first-career setback, but despite the surprising outcome, Sefo rates this season as arguably their best.
“It’s probably the best season so far,” Sefo said. “Just from the beginning to the end and the finals, everybody showed up, everybody did what they needed to do. The whole experience was truly amazing. Before the first fight we were half full. By the end of that first fight, it was completely full. Overall, I couldn’t be more happy. It was truly an amazing night.”
He continued, “There were a few upsets that night, and the fact that we ended up having six new champions, all from different countries – unfortunately we didn’t have a guy to represent the U.S. this time around, but that being said, we were truly happy with the outcome of the show.”
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Kayla Harrison realizes that the first loss of her career may come with future repercussions, we’ll see.
[autotag]Kayla Harrison[/autotag] hopes she gets the chance to avenge her loss to [autotag]Larissa Pacheco[/autotag].
Pacheco (19-4) earned a stunning upset over Harrison (15-1) at the 2022 PFL Championships, handing the two-time PFL women’s lightweight champion her first-career loss by unanimous decision.
It was a bitter pill to swallow for Harrison, who is having a hard time getting over the loss. She already holds two wins over Pacheco in prior seasons but still wants a fourth fight. Pacheco recently told MMA Junkie that she foresees a future fight with Harrison, but Harrison isn’t sure if it’ll happen.
“Yeah absolutely,” Harrison told ESPN on wanting Pacheco again. “It is (on top of my priority list), but I also understand like I don’t call the shots anymore. I f*cked up, I lost, I’m not the champ, so now I’m kind of at the mercy of some other people, and it’s gonna suck. …
“She can say no and if she doesn’t want to, she can just be like, ‘No, forget her.'”
Harrison has two fights left on her PFL contract. The original plan was to have them as superfights. In order to get a fourth fight against Pacheco, Harrison likely would have to enter the 2023 lightweight season, which she’s previously said she wouldn’t.
Another option that was brought up again was a fight against Bellator featherweight champion Cris Cyborg, for which PFL founder Donn Davis publicly has presented a lucrative offer.
“I would definitely love to fight Cyborg,” Harrison said. “She knows I would love to fight her. Rolls-Royce or no Rolls-Royce, I don’t do this for the money, I don’t do it for fancy cars. I actually do really love what I do.”
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How will Larissa Pacheco’s upset of Kayla Harrison affect Aspen Ladd’s plan for 2023? That depends.
[autotag]Aspen Ladd[/autotag] will enter the PFL’s 2023 featherweight season but won’t rule out the possibility of special one-offs.
Ladd (10-3), who left the UFC earlier this year after a plethora of weight-cutting issues, was victorious in her promotional debut, defeating former Bellator champion Julia Budd by split decision in a women’s featherweight showcase bout last Friday at the 2022 PFL Championships.
With potential big fights against 2022 PFL lightweight champ [autotag]Larissa Pacheco[/autotag] and two-time Olympic gold medalist [autotag]Kayla Harrison[/autotag] out there, Ladd is keeping her options open as the new year approaches.
“I want to do both,” Ladd told MMA Junkie Radio. “So if something was to occur before the season or after the season or whatever, I would love to do that. But I am definitely planning on going into the season right now.”
Pacheco scored a massive upset win against Harrison in the women’s lightweight final, handing Harrison the first loss of her career. But with Harrison having already defeated Pacheco twice in the past, Ladd isn’t sure which direction the PFL will go or how that could impact the possibility of fighting them.
“It’s an interesting situation, though, because it’s not like they only fought once or twice,” Ladd said. “If they rematch, it’s gonna be their fourth time, and in this situation, a rematch is usually what makes sense. Yeah, it definitely has implications for me but not in a tournament format. Could I fight either one of those women outside of the tournament? Yes, and I would gladly do it.
“But obviously the world at large thought Kayla was gonna win, so now it’s really what does Larissa want to do? What does the PFL want to do? Do they want that rematch?”
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The trilogy between Pacheco and Harrison was close. In their two previous fights that both went the distance, Pacheco lost all eight rounds combined. At the 2022 PFL Championships, all three judges scored it for her 48-47, even though she spent a fair amount of time on her back.
Ladd “definitely” thought Pacheco won.
“I thought it was a really great, competitive fight,” Ladd said. “I definitely thought Larissa won and by the time it got to the end of it, as somebody watching and as a fighter that – I know better than a lot of people, but I’m still not a judge even though some judges shouldn’t be judges, but I definitely thought (Pacheco) won that fight.
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With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best fights from November 2022.
With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best fights from November 2022: Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMA Junkie’s Fight of the Month award for November.
At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting on your choice.
New PFL champ Rob Wilkinson says he would’ve turned things around in the UFC if given the chance – not that it matters much now.
[autotag]Rob Wilkinson[/autotag] is confident he would have turned things around in the UFC if he was given the chance, although it doesn’t really matter anymore.
Wilkinson (17-2) lost twice in the octagon, including to former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, before he was released by the promotion in 2018. He hasn’t lost since and eventually found a home with the PFL where he became light heavyweight champion.
Wilkinson, who debuted during the 2022 PFL season, finished all four of his fights, including a doctor’s stoppage TKO of Omari Akhmedov at the 2022 PFL Championships this past Friday to win the 205-pound title and $1 million at 30.
“I have no doubt I would have gone on a win streak if I was given another opportunity to be in the UFC,” Wilkinson told MMA Junkie Radio. “Losing those two fights, I definitely learned a lot and definitely it drove me, not being able to fight regularly and only had two MMA fights over a four-year period before signing with the PFL. I managed to improve a lot without actually competing too much. So I would have been improving in the UFC, and I believe I would have won a lot of fights, but it is what it is, and I’m happy where I’m at right now.”
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Although Wilkinson captured a title in a major promotion, he doesn’t think he’ll be ranked as one of the top light heavyweights in the world. However, he’d be happy to prove it.
“I’d happily fight any of those top guys in the UFC or any other promotion,” Wilkinson said. “But I understand that most people won’t be considering me one of the best light heavyweights in the world. Like I’m not gonna be probably in the top five rankings in any website or anything like that, but that is my goal. I’m gonna keep fighting, keep winning until I’m considered the best light heavyweight in the world. That’s exactly what my next goal is.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for the 2022 PFL Championships.
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With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best knockouts from November 2022.
With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best knockouts from November 2022: Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMA Junkie’s Knockout of the Month award for November.
At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting for your choice.
What does Kayla Harrison’s stunning first loss at the 2022 PFL Championships mean for her future?
Prior to the 2022 PFL Championships, [autotag]Larissa Pacheco[/autotag] had yet to win a round against [autotag]Kayla Harrison[/autotag] in two previous losses.
Not only did she win a round Friday, she won three of them and claimed the women’s lightweight title by 48-47 unanimous decision scores from all three judges at Hulu Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York. When presented with the idea that she had a rivalry going with Pacheco, Harrison dismissed it during the pre-event press conference. And now with the result, it very well could be the 2022 Upset of the Year.
Harrison, who was previously undefeated, talked big before the fight about facing the likes of Cris Cyborg (perhaps next year) and some day Amanda Nunes once her PFL contract was up. Now the loss to Pacheco could change things. So does this end up being a good or bad thing – for both Harrison and the PFL?
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Our “Spinning Back Clique” panel of Mike Bohn, Nolan King and Brian “Goze” Garcia answered that question and more with host “Gorgeous” George Garcia. You can watch their discussion in the video above. And don’t miss this week’s full episode below.
“Spinning Back Clique” is released each Monday LIVE on MMA Junkie’s YouTube channel.
The 2022 PFL Championships took place Friday in New York, and all 24 fighters on the card received medical suspensions.
The 2022 PFL Championships took place this past Friday at Hulu Theatre in New York and featured six $1 million title fights among other bouts.
Atop the card was a shocking upset, with [autotag]Larissa Pacheco[/autotag] defeating [autotag]Kayla Harrison[/autotag] to claim the women’s lightweight title. Other championship winners included [autotag]Brendan Loughnane[/autotag], [autotag]Olivier Aubin-Mercier[/autotag], [autotag]Sadibou Sy[/autotag], [autotag]Ante Delija[/autotag], and Rob [autotag]Wilkinson[/autotag].
On Monday, the New York State Athletic Commission, which oversaw the event, released medical suspension durations to MMA Junkie, which show all 24 combatants suspended at least one week – with two fighters out 90 days. MMA Fighting first reported the suspensions.
The NYSAC has a policy against revealing the fighters’ specific injuries to the public.
See below to find out the medical suspension durations for the 2022 PFL Championships combatants. It’s important to note that athletes are allowed to return prior to completion of the suspension if they are cleared earlier by a doctor.
Join us for this week’s live stream of “Spinning Back Clique” looking at the biggest news and topics in MMA.
Check out this week’s “Spinning Back Clique,” MMA Junkie’s weekly live show that takes a spin through the biggest topics in mixed martial arts. This week’s panel of Brian “Goze” Garcia, Mike Bohn and Nolan King will join host “Gorgeous” George Garcia live at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) to discuss and debate:
“Spinning Back Clique” is released each Monday LIVE on MMA Junkie’s YouTube channel. You can watch this week’s episode in the video above.
