Kayla Harrison will top the ESPN portion of PFL 9 next month, with the promotion heading to London, England for the first time.
The Professional Fighters League hits up the Copper Box Arena in London on August 20, 2022 with the third of three playoff cards that also sees stops in New York City and Cardiff, Wales.
However although the two-time PFL women’s lightweight champion will get top billing, Harrison doesn’t top the leader board at 155 pounds this year. That honor goes to Larissa Pacheco, who earned two first-round stoppages this season and 12 points in the process.
Harrison (13-0) went to a decision in her first fight of the year against Marina Mokhnatkina, before pummelling Kaitlin Young to earn a first-round TKO at PFL 6 earlier this month. That leaves Harrison with nine points, and has earned her a semifinal match-up with Martina Jindrova (6-2). Like Harrison herself, Jindrova earned nine points in the 2022 regular season.
Pacheco (17-4), meanwhile, is paired up with Ukraine’s Olena Kolesnyk (7-4), who went 2-0 in 2022 with two decisions. That’s a drastic improvement for the 32-year old “Cannon,” who went 0-2 last year.
The mean’s featherweight semifinals, also taking place in London on August 20, will see Brendan Loughnane up against Chris Wade, while Ryoji Kudo draws Bubba Jenkins.
PFL officials announced the full London card on Wednesday, with the following fights set:
- Kayla Harrison vs. Martina Jindrova
- Chris Wade vs. Brendan Loughnane
- Larisa Pacheco vs. Olena Kolesnyk
- Ryoji Kudo vs. Bubba Jenkins
- Dakota Ditcheva vs. Hassna Gaber
- Louie Sutherland vs. Abraham Bably
- Tayo Odunjo vs. Magnus Onyeka
- Ali Taleb vs. Kenji Bortoluzzi
- Simeon Powell vs. Nemanja Uveric
- Stuart Austin vs. Sofiane Boukichou
- Marcin Held vs. Myles Price
- Aleksandrs Chizovs vs. TBA
