Kayla Harrison, the two-time Olympic medalist in judo who’s described herself as a “female Khabib Nurmagomedov,” is $1 million richer after winning the PFL lightweight tournament late on New Year’s Eve.
Harrison was one of six millionaires crowned by the PFL at their year-end event in Madison Square Garden, with the undefeated judoka topping the bill and making light work of Brazilian fighter Pacheco to enhance her reputation as one of the most dominant female fighters in the world.
Her suffocating style of ground attack has been compared to that of UFC champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and if there are differences in their output their style of attack, the results are equally effective.
This was Harrison’s second win against Pacheco during the PFL’s tournament structure, having already bested her during the ‘regular season’ but this time around, and perhaps with the thought of the $1 million cash prize motivating her, she was even more dominant.
She utilized her world-class grappling acumen to take the fight to the canvas in a number of different ways, forcing Pacheco to fight on the back foot throughout the majority of the bout. The Brazilian did find occasional success on the feet and threatened with submissions from the bottom, but she appeared outgunned throughout.
After five rounds and 25 minutes, there was no doubt about who had won the fight. For a moment, the cash prize and title belt seemed secondary to the man who awarded them to her – Mike Tyson – but make no mistake, Kayla Harrison has announced herself as a world class mixed martial artist.
Elsewhere on the card which featured an incredible six world title fights (all with $1 million on the line), Ray Copper III won the welterweight tournament while Ali Isayev beat former UFC fighter Jared Rosholt to win the heavyweight tournament.
Natan Schulte won a decision against Loik Radzhabov to claim the lightweight crown, Lance Palmer beat Alex Gilpin in a featherweight fight and Emiliano Sordi earned a first round KO Jordan Johnson at light heavyweight.
