Professional Fighters League 2021 Playoffs: Women's Lightweight

There may have been a few surprises along the way to the Professional Fighters League women’s lightweight final, but the road to the title still goes through Kayla Harrison.

Ahead of PFL 8 last week, the biggest surprise was the failure of Larissa Pacheco to make the 155-pound limit, forcing her removal from the semifinals. Into Pacheco’s place stepped Mariana Morais, who dropped a split decision to Taylor Guardado in their semifinal. On the other side of the bracket, defending 2019 lightweight champion Harrison took care of business with no issues, grounding kickboxer Genah Fabian without absorbing a single significant strike, taking dominant positions on the canvas and pounding out the taller Kiwi in an almost leisurely fashion, just over four minutes into the opening frame.

The one-sided win was no less than expected of Harrison, who entered the cage as anywhere from a 20-to-1 all the way up to a preposterous 50-to-1 favorite over Fabian. The final, on Oct. 27, will now feature Guardado, who unlike Pacheco and Morais is at least a new foil for the two-time Olympic gold medalist. Nonetheless, Harrison will enter the fight as a similarly lopsided favorite. That may simply be the reality for as long as she plies her trade in the nearly nonexistent 155-pound division.

Ben Duffy/Sherdog.com illustration