The Professional Fighters League geared up and launched its Challenger Series to lead off 2022, putting on more PFL fight cards than any past year. From February to November, the organization strung together a tourney that crowned six champions and awarded $1 million checks to all new recipients. With an eye on the future and eight events already on the books for 2023, the sky might be the limit for the PFL after a banner season.
TOTAL NUMBER OF PFL FIGHTS IN 2022: 141
TOTAL NUMBER OF PFL EVENTS IN 2022: 18
Knockouts: 12
Technical Knockouts: 38
Submissions: 22
Decisions: 67
Draws: 0
No Contests: 2
Same Content, Just More of It: Including eight shows for the Challenger Series, the PFL exceeded its own record number events as either World Series of Fighting or PFL. The 18 fight cards under its banner exceed 2018’s 11, which was the most of any past year.
Date on a Dartboard: Like the 2021 season, the organization did not run its championship show on New Year’s Eve. Instead, it aired the day after Thanksgiving on Nov. 25, also known as “Black Friday.” Its $50 buy-in price marked the first time PFL had ever run a pay-per-view.
Up with the Times: Last year, five of the 10 events of the season featured a women’s bout in a headliner. Even though there were 18 shows instead of 10, this year also saw five different cards feature a marquee women’s match.
No-Repeat Workweek: A new achievement for any subsequent tourney season since the PFL launched in 2018, every single victor in their respective weight class was a first-time champ. It is the first year no repeat winners ran the table again.
Tables Run, Setting Sun: Every single tourney winner in all six weight classes went a perfect 4-0 in 2022. They were the only six to end the season with four wins, despite a few competitors from the Challenger Series joining the tournament.
Diversity Is an Old, Old Wooden Ship: This season marked the first time no American won in any of the brackets. The triumphant hailed from England, Canada, Sweden, Australia, Croatia and Brazil, making these champs the most diverse in company history.
Half In, Half Out: At lightweight, welterweight and heavyweight, the unsuccessful finalist made it all the way to the last bout without winning both matches in the regular season. Bubba Jenkins, Omari Akhmedov and Kayla Harrison were thwarted despite perfect seasons to that point.
Old News: Of the 2021 champions -- Movlid Khaybulaev, Raush Manfio, Ray Cooper III, Antonio Carlos Jr., Bruno Cappelozza and Harrison -- Harrison was the only one to even fight in the playoffs this season.
Fourth Time Was Indeed the Charm: Sadibou Sy required the maximum amount of time to prevail in the 2022 season, claiming four decisions to reach the pinnacle. His 70 minutes of combat surpasses the other victors by a fair margin. In contrast, Rob Wilkinson required only 20 minutes, 26 seconds of action to get it all done.
Comeback Fighter of the Year: Wilkinson is the only one of the bunch that finished all four foes to claim $1 million and the giant check. He joins Harrison and Emiliano Sordi as the only champions to run the table with stoppages in every win of a season.
Spreading Seeds: The two top-seeded fighters in light heavyweight and women’s lightweight prevailed by pummeling their opposition in the two regular season matches. The four-seeded Brendan Loughnane at featherweight came in as the lowest to still win it all.
Flawless No More: In the history of the WSOF-PFL, just two fighters had ever amassed unbeaten records in its cage after more than 10 wins: Harrison and Marlon Moraes. Both fighters lost on the PFL 2022 Championships card.
Hunting Kayla: While she trails Harrison by several victories, Larissa Pacheco is far and away the second-winningest female fighter in league history, with eight wins opposite just two defeats – and those both came against Harrison.
There Will Be More: With three knockouts to her credit in the 2022 season, Pacheco tied Harrison for the most (five) of any female fighter to grace the organization’s cage.
That 15th Would Have Been Sweet: Although she lost in the finals, Harrison reached her 14th win on the roster during the season. This is good for the second-most in company history, with only Lance Palmer’s 16 standing above her.
Everything’s Coming Up Roses: Unlike her failed 2021 run where she missed weight in the semifinals, Pacheco turned things around to be on target every match. Her one-time opponent Genah Fabian could not say the same, as she clocked in five pounds over the limit ahead of her fight with Julia Budd. Fabian ended up losing a playoff point despite the victory.
Two Sides of Cooper: Former champ Cooper clocked in a whopping six pounds heavy at welterweight in his first regular season fight against Carlos Leal Miranda. Cooper lost and did not reach the playoffs.
He Can See for Myles: Even though just four participants per playoff field were allowed in each weight division, Myles Price managed to lose three times in the season. After losing to Anthony Pettis and Jeremy Stephens, Price appeared in a showcase bout against Marcin Held, and he succumbed to a choke as the lone fighter to suffer three PFL defeats in 2022.
His Eyeball Came Out: Thanks to a shocking win on the second episode of the Challenger Series where he broke Mark Martin’s eye socket, Dilano Taylor ended up fighting five times this year. He was the only fighter to do so, although he came up short to Magomed Magomedkerimov in the regular season and Sy in the finals.
Well Begun Is Half Done: When excluding the Challenger Series for comparison purposes, the 2022 PFL tournament ended with a finish rate of exactly 50%. This stacked up higher than any season but 2022 (54.9%).
Cooper Bullied Cooper: While he lost a deflating decision to Miranda in his first outing, Cooper rebounded in style by destroying Brett Cooper with knees and punches in 24 seconds. His finish clocked in as the fastest of the year, and the eighth-quickest in organizational history.
29 is Fine: At 29 seconds of their PFL 2022 1 bout, Carlos Jr. tapped Delan Monte with a brabo choke. This ties Louis Taylor’s guillotine of Cory Devela in 2016 for the speediest submission in promotional history.
Twisting and Shouting: To earn a place in the lightweight playoffs, Steven Ray landed a twister on Anthony Pettis. This maneuver is the first in WSOF-PFL history, with only a small number performed across all major MMA promotions ever.
Light Sleepers: A downturn from years past, just three bouts – including one on the Challenger Series – concluded via technical submission. Jackie Cataline, Akhmedov and Ali Taleb all achieved these consciousness-depriving submissions, for the fewest in a calendar year since 2016.
First Ditch Effort: Courtesy of one mighty knee, Dakota Ditcheva made Hassna Gaber surrender in the first round of their August encounter. Her forced submission due to strikes is the first for a female fighter, and only the second overall in the history of the company. Mike Kyle tapped to punches from Muhammed DeReese first in 2018.
How to Lose a Bettor in 10 Days: Including three on the Challenger Series, 15 different bouts saw betting favorites of -1000 or higher – triple the total from 2021. Harrison was involved in three, while Carlos Jr. was the only other with multiple lines that heavily in his favor. The only one that lost was Renan Ferreira against Klidson Abreu, and that fight was later overturned.
The Tables Turned: In her pro debut, Harrison locked in as a -610 favorite against Brittney Elkin. Since then, she had exceeded -1500 in every PFL bout until her rubber match with Pacheco. For the final bout of the company’s year, she closed at -800 odds only to lose.
Many Books Don’t Refund After Drug Tests: The two-time Olympic gold medalist’s loss to Pacheco as a -800 favorite was not the biggest upset of the season. Those honors officially go to the aforementioned +650 Abreu over the -1000 Ferreira.
Negative Genancy: Due to her missing weight against Budd and then a subsequent knockout loss to Pacheco, Fabian concluded her 2022 campaign with -1 playoff points. She becomes the fifth fighter in league history to achieve this notorious distinction, joining Alexey Kunchenko, Olena Kolesnyk, Ali Isaev and Hatef Moeil.
March 25: The PFL aired one event in 2022 that did not have tournament ramifications or playoff stakes: PFL Challenger Series 7. This tape-delayed show featured five bouts with athletes all making their professional debuts. Of those 10 competitors, Alexei Pergande is the only one to return for a subsequent PFL appearance thus far.
Like a Poke in the Eye: A pair of matches ended as no contests throughout the year, with one ruled in-cage due to an inadvertent eye poke, and the other overturned after a failed drug test. Abreu tested positive for banned substances and had his decision win over Ferreira taken away, while Mokhtar Benkaci and Francesco Nuzzi concluded due to the eye poke. This tally is the fewest in a year since 2018.