Having dethroned Kayla Harrison to claim the women’s lightweight title a year ago, and undefeated through nine straight fights, there was little question Pacheco was entering the 2023 final brimming with confidence.

Right out of the gate, Pacheco opened fire, backing Mokhnatkina up with lefts and rights. Marina managed to escape, and circled the cage, but had to be wary of a high kick from Pacheco. Moments later, a right hand over the top was trailed by a left hook for Pacheco, who was continually testing Mokhnatkina’s defenses, not to mention chin. Mokhnatkina continued to backpedal, circle, and finally grabbed Pacheco’s leg off a kick, looking for a takedown. It wasn’t there; Mokhnatkina got the Brazilian up against the fence, but instead had to contend with a guillotine attempt.

Pacheco looked to have the choke in tight. But Mokhnatkina was able to survive, with Pacheco wrenching her opponent down. But Mokhnatkina rolled, right into a kneebar! A nasty one, that Pacheco just gutted her way through. Mokhnatkina continued to attack the kneebar, with Pacheco just refusing to tap! Somehow she gutted it out, pulled free, then launched a nasty amount of ground n’ pound. Now it was Mokhnatkina’s turn to survive, and somehow, she did, while Pacheco complained about Marina’s toe hooking her shorts — likely accidental, and not likely to have made much difference.

Early in the second, Mokhnatkina landed a takedown, only for Larissa Pacheco to quickly scramble to her feet. At range, Marina fired a spinning back first that sailed wide. Pacheco walked her opponent down, with the clear edge on the feet. But with just under two minutes to go, Marina Mokhnatkina landed a takedown off a well-timed level change, with plenty of time to work from inside Pacheco’s guard. Despite this, the ref quickly stood the pair up, deciding that he wasn’t seeing enough action on the ground.

Round three saw Pacheco connect early after another low-percentage spinning back fist attempt by Marina Mokhnatkina. Pacheco walked the Russian fighter down, as Mokhnatkina circled along the fence. But a number of right hands landed for Larissa Pacheco. And the damage was starting to show on Marina. When they went to the ground just past the midway mark, Pacheco fired some wild hammerfists. As she passed into mount, Pacheco ripped the body with hard shots. She then had 90 seconds to work form mount, landing ground n’ pound as Mokhnatkina covered up. The Russian once again survived, and Pacheco instead took the back, getting both hooks in.

Entering the championship rounds, it felt like Marina Mokhnatkina had proved a lot of doubters long, simply by surviving the first fifteen minutes. And just over a minute in, she landed a throw takedown— only to find herself in a Pacheco triangle. Mokhnatkina hauled Pacheco up, dangling her off the mat for a few seconds; eventually Pacheco would release the hold, and Mokhnatkina wound up hunting for a kneebar as they continued the grappling battle.

After a moment, Pacheco pulled free, and moved back to her feet with Mokhnatkina following. Pacheco was able to land her right hand again, and when Mokhnatkina got the fight down, Larissa sprawled, scrambled, and quickly got back up.

With the final round arriving, there was a strong likelihood that Mokhnatkina needed a finish. She grabbed a leg early, only for Pacheco to push her off. A bit later, a Pacheco high kick partially landed, but Mokhnatkina ate it, caught the leg, and got the fight down! That saw her working from guard, in a dominant position on top and in guard, but with time falling off the clock. Mokhnatkina got in a bit of ground n’ pound, but not nearly enough to threaten a finish. Instead, it was Larissa Pacheco riding out the clock en route to a second championship, in a second weight class — securing her name in the history books of the sport.

Official Result: Larissa Pacheco def. Marina Mokhnatkina by unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 49-46)

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In the main event, Canada’s Olivier Aubin-Mercier was set to defend his lightweight championship against Clay Collard, with OAM looking to win back-to-back championships ahead of a planned extended layoff. Heavyweights Renan Ferreira and Denis Goltsov anchored the co-main event, while Larissa Pacheco squared off with Marina Mokhnatkina in an attempt to become the PFL’s first two-division champion: having won at lightweight last year, Pacheco was now competing at 145lbs.

Kayla Harrison, meanwhile, was set to take on short-notice opponent Aspen Ladd earlier in the evening, looking to bounce back from a shock loss to Pacheco in last year’s lightweight final.

Weigh-ins for the PFL Championship 2023 card took place Thursday in Washington, D.C. Results can be found below.

PFL Championship 2023 Weigh-In Results

Main card

Lightweight: Olivier Aubin-Mercier (154.8) vs. Clay Collard (154.8) — lightweight title fight
Heavyweight: Renan Ferreira (266.2) vs. Denis Goltsov (244.6) — heavyweight title fight
Women’s Featherweight: Larissa Pacheco (145) vs. Marina Mokhnatkina (144.4) — women’s featherweight title fight
Welterweight: Magomed Magomedkerimov (170) vs. Sadibou Sy (169.8) — welterweight title fight
Light Heavyweight: Josh Silveira (202.6) vs. Impa Kasanganay (203.4) — light heavyweight title fight
Catchweight (150lb): Kayla Harrison (150.4) vs. Aspen Ladd (150)
Middleweight: Ray Cooper III (186.8)* vs. Derek Brunson (185.8)

Preliminary card

Featherweight: Jesus Pinedo (145) vs. Gabriel Alves Braga (144.6) — featherweight title fight
Lightweight: Biaggio Ali Walsh (155.8) vs. Joel Galarza Lopez (154.2) — Amateur bout
Featherweight: Bubba Jenkins (145) vs. Chris Wade (148.4)**
Bantamweight: Phil Caracappa (135.6) vs. Khai Wu (135.4)
Featherweight: Jesse Stirn (145.6) vs. Josh Blyden (146.8)***

* Cooper will forfeit 20% of his purse to Brunson after missing weight by 0.8lbs

** Wade missed weight by 2.4lbs — bout has been cancelled

*** Blyden missed weight by 0.8lbs, will forfeit 20% of his purse to Stirn

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Heavyweights and women’s featherweights were in action at PFL 8 on Friday, a card decimated by fight cancellations that wound up having just seven bouts in total. After a slow start with a couple of preliminary card match-ups going the distance, however, all four semifinal fights on the night delivered.

All four, in fact, ended inside the opening round. Marina Mokhnatkina got the semifinal action started, securing an early takedown, then an arm-bar, forcing Amber Leibrock to tap. One fight later, it was Denis Goltsov finding a submission of his own. He softened up Jordan Heiderman on the ground before trapping him in an arm-triangle choke, forcing a tap.

The co-main and main event winners got the job done on the feet. Fighting Olena Kolesnyk for the third time, last year’s women’s lightweight champ Larissa Pacheco took just 14 seconds to get the result she wanted this time around. She lit up Kolesnyk against the fence, which saw the Ukrainian quickly crumble, slumping to the ground.

Pacheco heads to the finals to meet Mokhnatkina with the chance to become the PFL’s first-ever two division champion. The Brazilian defeated Kayla Harrison in a shock upset last fall to capture lightweight gold; that division was mothballed with 145lbs being introduced in 2023.

In the main event, it was a right hand delivered towards the end of the opening round that left Maurice Greene in a daze. Renan Ferreira needed just a few ground strikes to send the ref charging in, but the fight felt over the second the right hand had connected.

Ferreira lands in his first PFL final in his third season with the league, while Goltsov goes to the finale for the first time after making the semifinal round on four separate occasions.

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It has been business as usual ahead of the fight, Mokhnatkina (10-3) told Cageside Press ahead of the fight, with UFC heavyweight Serghei Spivac translating.

“I don’t change nothing, I just want to improve everything. In the striking, in the wrestling,” she stated. “I work a lot of this.”

Leibrock, who Cageside Press also spoke to ahead of the fight, noted that she spends a lot of time training with men. For starters, she never knows which girls she’s going to fight, and female featherweights aren’t exactly growing on trees.

“I can say the same about me, I train with the men,” Mokhnatkina said of the situation at her own gym. “We have a lot of people there, sometimes I train with girls, but when I started sports, Sambo, I trained always with the men. This is no problem for me.”

Mokhnatkina crossed over from Sambo, where she holds multiple gold medals, in 2016, and even doubled up for a time, competing in both sports. A familiar name motivated her to make the transition.

“I’m really motivated by Ronda Rousey, because her background is judo, she goes to MMA, and she was so perfect,” Mokhnatkina stated. “She showed everybody what she can do, she was UFC champion. I want to do the same. I like this choice.”

Along the way to the PFL, Mokhnatkina competed for Bellator MMA, but it has been this past season in the Professional Fighters League that has seen her biggest successes. She’s won four straight fights dating back to last year, and heads to the playoffs for the first time.

Still, said Mokhnatkina, “I’m not happy, because I can do better, I can show better. But I’m happy to be in the playoffs. I have the opportunity to show you guys a good fight, and what I can do.”

In Amber Leibrock, Mokhnatkina doesn’t seem to see much. In fact, she told us Leibrock has shown nothing at all in her own fights this season — despite a viral knockout finish set up with a head kick.

“Honestly, she don’t show nothing. First fight was the lucky punch. It’s not my opinion, a lot of people think about this,” Mokhnatkina suggested. “The second fight, she could show something but she don’t show nothing to nobody, because she lost this fight. No. Nothing.”

Watch our full interview with PFL 8 women’s featherweight Marina Mokhnatkina above. The event takes place at The Theater at Madison Square Garden on Friday, August 18, 2023.

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In fact, she felt she could do better in her fight with Evelyn Martins, which wound up going the distance, earning Mokhnatkina three points — and, as it turned out, a spot in the PFL playoffs.

“After the first round, I feel it’s not going to happen how I want, and I need to do what I do better,” said Mokhnatkina (10-3) following the bout, speaking via translator and UFC heavyweight Serghei Spivac.

Since losing to Kayla Harrison in May of 2022, the Russian featherweight has won four straight fights, three of which have come under the PFL banner. After that setback, Mokhnatkina felt that “I need to believe more in myself.”

Martins was the lone fighter to miss weight for the 2023 PFL 5 card, and on that front, Mokhnatkina noted that “I think it’s unprofessional. But, she added, she “prepared for this fight so hard,” and there was no doubt coming in that she would be ready. “I think only about fighting,” she said when asked about her reaction to Martins’ miss.

Marina Mokhnatkina is set to face Amber Leibrock in the PFL 2023 semifinals.

Watch the full 2023 PFL 5 post-fight press conference appearance by Marina Mokhnatkina above.

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The event takes place at the Overtime Elite Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, and it seems has if the Russian fighter has been chomping at the bit to return to action. Not one to like being stuck in her hotel room, Mokhnatkina did a bit of hiking ahead of the event — wearing some rather nice looking Air Jordans.

Those, she told Cageside Press in an interview on Wednesday, are “special Jordans. When I go [out], these Jordans will never be dirty. Every time, they’re clean.” Plus, she noted, we have good weather there.”

Still, it seems risky to put a pair of mint Air Jordans on the line. “She has a lot of shoes,” joked UFC heavyweight Serghei Spivac, serving as translator.

When it comes to her match-up at PFL 5, Mokhnatkina told us that “Evelyn is tough, she’s good, she’s young. But I have more experience. I think this is a good opportunity for me. Friday, I will show everything that I can do.”

In terms of any concern about points, following her second-round TKO stoppage of Yoko Higashi at PFL 2, Mokhnatkina said simply that “I don’t think too much about points, only bout winning. That’s it.”

Watch our full interview with 2023 PFL 5 women’s featherweight Marina Mokhnatkina above.

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The two-time defending PFL champ was kicking off her 2022 campaign in the women’s lightweight division against Marina Mokhnatkina, a Sambo specialist. Harrison’s Judo, Makhnatkina’s Sambo — which would prove superior? A semi-legit question, but Harrison was a big favorite, after absolutely clobbering the bulk of her first 12 opponents in MMA.

The main event duo ate about a full minute of clock circling and feeling each other out at PFL 3, before Harrison closed the distance and landed her first takedown of the evening. Mokhnatkina would attack an arm off her back, and eventually scramble back up, eating a knee to the body for her troubles. With a body lock in place, Harrison looked to get the fight back down, but the Russian managed to keep things standing, using the fence and some solid balance. Harrison, however, was in control, but Mokhnatkina would roll into a kneebar attempt. Only problem, when it wasn’t there, she had Harrison on top of her.

From there, Harrison moved to the back, getting both hooks in. With a minute left in the opening round, Harrison looked to flatten her opponent out, but was too high up on the back. Mokhnatkina scrambled back up, and the rest of the round played out on the feet.

About a minute into the second, Kayla Harrison had landed another takedown. But again, a very game Mokhnatkina was back to her feet quickly. The boost in morale from escaping the first round against Harrison certainly didn’t hurt, as it was a feat few of Kayla’s opponents had managed. The problem was, Mokhnatkina had shown little to no offence in the opening round. Again in the second, she’d look to roll into a kneebar attempt. This time, Harrison squirmed free, then fired a heavy right hand before settling in on top. Mokhnatkina employed a butterfly guard, and trapped Harrison’s arms with overhooks. Harrison backed off, fired another big right hand, and stepped over into half-guard, then side control.

Harrison went hunting for an arm-bar, and Mokhnatkina then gave up her back. Harrison got one hook in, sitting upright with her back to the fence. With time running out, however, she couldn’t get under the chin. And Mokhnatkina would escape out just before the horn.

In round three, Harrison changed levels, ducking under as Mokhnatkina moved in. While the initial takedown attempt was fought off, Harrison took control of the back. Mokhnatkina fought the wrists, but Harrison freed her left hand, dropping several punches. Still, the Russian fighter survived and got back to her feet.

Marina Mokhnatkina was resilient, crafty, and clearly not intimated by Olympic gold medalist Kayla Harrison on Friday. But her biggest win was in surviving three rounds with the returning champion. And that simply wasn’t enough to win the fight.

Official Result: Kayla Harrison def. Marina Mokhnatkina by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

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Mokhnatkina (6-2), a six-time world champion in Sambo, sees things a little differently.

“Of course Kayla is a very distinguished fighter, but also let me remind that I have my achievements. I’ve been champion six times. And I never see an opponent as somebody out of this world, no matter how famous they are,” she said during the PFL 3 media day on Wednesday. “The job that we’re doing, I have to get out there. She’s another human being that’s going to face me.”

“If anything I’m thankful for this opportunity, because that’s the only way to grow,” Mokhnatkina continued. “You have to face very strong opponents to get better. I couldn’t be more thankful that we got matched up with her. I’m totally looking forward to it, hopefully we’re going to have fun, and I’m pretty much confident that the victory’s going to be mine.”

Still, many fighters would be daunted by facing the juggernaut that is Harrison, who hasn’t faced much resistance, if any, through the first 12 fights of her career.

“By no means am I going to be feeling intimidated,” Mokhnatkina stated. “This is the perfect time to grow, and I’m just thankful for this opportunity. I’m going to go in, and I’m going to show my best.”

Marina Mokhnatkina meets Kayla Harrison at PFL 3 this Friday, May 6, 2022, in Arlington, Texas. Watch the rest of Mokhnatkina’s media day appearance above. More coverage can be found below.

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PFL 3, 2022 edition is set to be headlined by Kayla Harrison (12-0), unquestionably the promotion’s biggest star. Having recently re-signed with the league after a lengthy free agency period, Harrison has been paired up with Marina Mokhnatkina (6-2).

League officials announced the news in a press release on Tuesday. For Harrison, it will be the first step along her journey to become a three-time PFL champion. Mokhnatkina, a Bellator MMA veteran who went 1-1 in that promotion, made her PFL debut last year — and will be a heavy underdog in the women’s lightweight fight.

The co-main event for PFL 3 will feature another two-time champ, Ray Cooper III (24-7-1). Winner of the welterweight tournament in 2019 and 2021, he’ll kick off the 2022 season against undefeated Russian Magomed Umalatov (11-0).

Two other big names will round out the PFL 3 2022 main card. Anthony Pettis (24-12) is expected to feature, taking on Myles Price (11-7) — a lightweight fight originally announced for PFL 1, only to be pushed back several weeks. And Rory MacDonald (22-8-1), the former Bellator MMA welterweight champ, will return, looking for redemption after coming up short last season. “The Red King” is set to take on Brett Cooper (28-15).

This year’s PFL 3 card is expected to take place on Friday, May 6, 2022 at the Esports Stadium Arlington in Arlington, Texas. The full card as announced on Tuesday can be found below.

PFL 3: Harrison vs. Mokhnatkina

ESPN2 Card

• Kayla Harrison vs. Marina Mokhnatkina
• Ray Cooper III vs. Magomed Umalatov
• Anthony Pettis vs. Myles Price
• Rory MacDonald vs. Brett Cooper

ESPN+ Card

• Magomed Magomedkerimov vs. Joao Zeferino
• Genah Fabian vs. Julia Budd
• Sadibou Sy vs. Nikolai Aleksakhin
• Larissa Pacheco vs. Zamzagul Fayzallanova
• Gleison Tibau vs. Jarrah Al Silawi
• Olena Kolesnyk vs. Abigail Montes
• Vanessa Melo vs. Martina Jindrova

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Marina Mokhnatkina and Martina Jindrova are the most recent additions to the women’s 155lb weight class. “We are very excited to bring two women of this caliber into our women’s lightweight division,” PFL President of Fighter Operations Ray Sefo said in a press release Wednesday. “The goal has been to elevate our roster each year and that will be the case once again in 2022. These signings, along with others we already have in the pipeline will show the commitment we have to building an even stronger roster for the coming Season.”

Jindrova (3-1), a native of the Czech Republic, got her start in kickboxing and Muay Thai. In 2013, she was linked to a Muay Thai bout with the legendary Cris Cyborg, but was forced to withdraw due to injury. The Czech fighter would go on to become a ISKA K-1 kickboxing champion, and four-time Czech national kickboxing champion — then make the jump to MMA in 2018.

Mokhnatkina (5-2) previously competed for Bellator MMA, going 1-1 in that promotion’s featherweight division. The Sambo world champion has fought as low as bantamweight, competing for the inaugural Fight Nights Global women’s bantamweight championship against current UFC fighter Liana Jojua. She lost the fight by majority decision, before losing her Bellator debut to Janay harding, then bouncing back this June against Amanda Bell.

The PFL’s current season is still playing out, with Kayla Harrison once again favored to win the women’s lightweight tournament.

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