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TOTAL NUMBER OF PFL FIGHTS: 664
TOTAL NUMBER OF PFL EVENTS: 67
The Professional Fighters League wrapped up its heavyweight and women’s lightweight semifinals on Thursday with some extremely predictable results and other shocking occurrences. It should surprise few that undefeated Kayla Harrison is the obvious frontrunner for the million-dollar prize, and her victory merits most of the statistical accolades from this short fight card. PFL 8: 2021 Playoffs featured an overwhelming favorite doing exactly what they should do, a Brazilian bomber blasting his way through the competition and that fighter’s countryman proving he should be the rightful alternate for the finals.
The Housekeeping Slide: With the second crop of semifinals in the books, the women’s lightweight finals will include second-seeded Harrison against number three seed Taylor Guardado. At the heavyweight division, top-seeded Bruno Henrique Cappelozza takes on the two seed Ante Delija.
H: Harrison improved her unbeaten record to 11-0 by pounding out Genah Fabian in just over four minutes. Throughout her career, the only woman she has not been able to finish inside the distance is Larissa Pacheco, whom she defeated twice on the scorecards.
A: With her win, Harrison finds herself with a 10-fight win streak under the PFL banner, tying a record for the fourth-longest of its kind in company history along with David Branch and Justin Gaethje. Magomed Magomedkerimov, Marlon Moraes and Lance Palmer all achieved 11 victories in a row with the company.
R: Harrison became the fifth fighter in organizational history to amass an undefeated record of at least 10-0 inside its cage. Those names include all the aforementioned men that sport those the lengthy win streaks other than Palmer, who lost his World Series of Fighting debut to Georgi Karakhanyan at WSOF 7 in 2013.
R: The stoppage of Fabian marked the eighth time that Harrison has finished a foe inside the distance as a PFL fighter. She is now one shy of Gaethje’s record for the most in league history, along with Ray Cooper III.
I: Seven of Harrison’s eight stoppage wins have come in the opening frame, setting a new record for the most in WSOF-PFL history. She was previously tied with Vinny Magalhaes with six.
S: Harrison placed herself in a three-way tie with Brian Foster and Hakeem Dawodu for the fifth-most knockouts in organizational history. Moraes and Emiliano Sordi both sport five, Cooper has six while Gaethje stands above with nine.
O: Of the four knockouts that Harrison has scored in the PFL cage, three of those came about in the first round. She only trails Sordi and Moraes for the most first-round knockouts the promotion’s history, while tied with four other fighters including Cooper.
N: Harrison celebrates practically every record among female fighters in company history. She holds the most wins (10), most finishes (eight), most appearances (10), most knockouts (four), most submissions (four), most first-round stoppages (seven) as just some of her many accolades.
The Harrison Line: Closing as a -2000 favorite against Fabian, Harrison dispatched her foe in the first round. A whopping four of her 10 PFL bouts have seen the lines close at 20-to-1 or higher for the two-time Olympic gold medalist, far and away more than any other fighter on the roster.
Battering Bruno: Punching his ticket into the finals with a second-round knockout of Jamelle Jones, Cappelozza maintained his perfect 100 percent knockout rate with his victory. The bout marked the fifth time the Brazilian had ever won a fight beyond the first round.
Cappelozza It All Off: The first six playoff bouts of the 2021 season all went the distance, including the first two on this event. With his knockout of Jones, Cappelozza became the first fighter to earn a stoppage to move on to the finals this year.
Guarded Performance: In her brief pro career that began in March 2020, Guardado has competed just four times and is eligible to win a million dollars with one more victory. All four of her pro bouts have gone the distance, following her split decision win over Mariana Morais.
Bad, Just Bad: Guardado was originally slated to face top seed Pacheco for a spot in the finals, but Pacheco missed weight by two pounds and was ejected from the tournament. In her stead came the fifth-seeded Morais, who won a split decision over Kaitlin Young to qualify.
He’s Over Werdum: Heavyweight alternate Renan Ferreira destroyed Stuart Austin to earn his eighth career knockout. The 6-foot-8 man known as “Problema” posts an 87 percent finish rate, with his lone decision coming over Carl Seumanutafa in his last fight.
Fists Like Wrecking Balls: Ferreira’s knockout came in just 31 seconds, giving the Brazilian the fastest finish in WSOF-PFL heavyweight history. The previous record was set in May when Cappelozza wrecked Delija in 46 seconds.
Bad Times for Badwater: Suffering his fourth decision loss in as many appearances inside the PFL cage, Seumanutafa fell short against Muhammed DeReese. “Badwater” is now tied for the second-most decision losses in the history of the organization, trailing only Steven Siler with five.
When the Leve Breaks: In her professional debut, BJJ black belt Amanda Leve tapped short-notice opponent Miranda Barber with a rear-naked choke. In victory, Leve landed the first rear-naked choke in WSOF-PFL women’s divisional history.
Never Say Never Again: Coming into PFL 8: 2021 Playoffs, no female fighter had reached multiple tournament finals (Harrison), Fabian had never been finished (five fights) and Denis Goltsov had never lost on the scorecards (33 fights).