Salt Lake City — Kayla Harrison has one professional loss in MMA to her name, and her old home, the Professional Fighters League, opted to highlight it in a promo released just hours before her fight at UFC 307.
Harrison (18-1) earned a unanimous decision over Ketlen Vieira on Saturday, and likely clinched a bantamweight title shot in the process. As for the PFL, they have a big women’s featherweight fight coming up later this month, as double-champ Larissa Pacheco (155 and 145) faces off with Bellator MMA women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg, herself a former UFC star.
In the hours prior to Harrison’s fight, a video highlighting her lone loss, to Pacheco, was released by the PFL. While ostensibly promoting Pacheco’s fight, it seemed more about getting a shot in at Harrison, who has been criticized by PFL founder Donn Davis for “running” from Pacheco and Cyborg (Harrison, it should be noted, has twice defeated Pacheco, who won a third fight between the pair). Harrison was the face of the PFL for years, winning two titles there at 145lbs before her jump to the UFC and move down to bantamweight.
The night @lpacchec shocked the world
2x Division PFL World champion Larissa Pacheco returns on October 19th against @criscyborg
[ #PFLSuperFights | #BraceForImpact | Sat, Oct 19th | 4PM ET ] pic.twitter.com/LbA5BA0WKL
— PFL (@PFLMMA) October 5, 2024
“I think when you’re losing as much money as they are, f*cking go for it,” White stated during the UFC 307 post-fight press conference on Saturday, when the promo was brought to his attention. F*cking throw the kitchen sink at it.”
White has not been a fan of the PFL in recent times, and had criticism for Davis, without referring to the PFL exec by name. “This guy came out recently and said ‘we’re going to spend more money than they [the UFC] did on The Sphere.’ Well that sounds f*cking brilliant. How many tickets are you going to sell?” he questioned. “They’re not very bright. So if I were them, I would do- listen, it’s all fair. Knock yourself out. They’re drowning. Drowning.”
White would then add simply about the PFL that “they suck. They’re not good at what they do. So I guess you would just keep trying anything you can to make something stick. All good.”
Watch the full UFC 307 post-fight press conference appearance by Dana White above.
