Back in November last year, Kayla Harrison had her undefeated record shattered by her longtime Larissa Pacheco. Four months later, the former PFL Lightweight champion terms it as the best thing that has ever happened to her.
After defeating Pacheco twice in the past- first at PFL 1 in May 2019, followed by the rematch at PFL 10, which served as the 2019 PFL Women’s Lightweight Tournament final, Harrison met her Brazilian adversary for the third time in the 2022 PFL Women’s Lightweight Tournament Final at PFL 10 last November.
This time, however, Pacheco turned the cards and the trilogy went to her name, courtesy of a unanimous decision, along with Harrison suffering her first career defeat. Nonetheless, two-time Olympic gold medalist judoka has received the maiden loss sportingly.
“Honestly, it’s the best thing that ever happened to me,” Harrison said in an interview with The Schmo. “Well, besides my kids. It’s had a big impact on my life and shifted my life in a really positive way.”
“I’m not fighting from a place of fear or ‘I gotta win, I gotta win, I gotta win’ anymore,” the 32-year-old went on, “I’m fighting from a place of happiness and peace and I think that makes me way more dangerous.”
Harrison’s current contract at the PFL includes two more PPV bouts for the year 2023 before it comes to an end. While it is expected that she will be re-signing with the promotion, there were talks of Harrison possibly parting ways with the PFL when she was a free agent last year, but she doesn’t find all these talks as distracting.
“No, not at all,” Harrison commented on the promotion talks, “I think that’s part of the job. This is what I do for a living, this is my profession. I think that I didn’t leave any stone unturned. I trained hard. My coaches were with me the whole way, we had a great game plan. It just wasn’t my night. S**t happens.”
In the end, she encouraged the idea of a quadrilogy with Pacheco, but also said that she’s ready to face anyone in the cage.
“I’d like the [fourth fight with Pacheco],” added Harrison. “I don’t know if it’s gonna happen, just the way the MMA stars are aligned. So, I’ll have to settle for two out of three ain’t bad. We’ll see. I’ll never say never. I’ll fight anybody.” [H/T MMA Mania]
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