Larissa Pacheco: Kayla Harrison Has a Rematch ‘Whenever She Wants’

Although she become the first person to defeat Kayla Harrison in 16 professional appearances, Larissa Pacheco still saw plenty of room for improvement in her unanimous decision triumph at the 2022 PFL Championships.

“It was good, but it wasn’t great,” Pacheco said through a translator at the post-fight press conference (video via MMA Sucka). “There’s a lot of things that happened this fight that I thought were going to go one way for me and they didn’t. I obviously noticed that she was being frustrated with a lot of her takedown attempts, and with that, I gained confidence. I’m just happy I was able to stick with the strategy, stick with what we had planned in order to come out on top.”

Harrison still owns a 2-1 career mark against Pacheco, and the 28-year-old Brazilian is more than willing to face the two-time Olympic gold medalist for a fourth time if the situation calls for it.

“Kayla has a rematch whenever she wants,” Pacheco said. “I’m happy to give it to her and I know she’s going to come back even stronger.”

Harrison was rarely tested prior to Friday night, and even in her first two meeting with Pacheco, the American Top Team product clearly won all eight rounds between the two lightweights. Still, Pacheco was able to gain confidence from those two meetings, and that allowed her to win a competitive five-round verdict in the trilogy.

“I just noticed that I’m as good as her, and that’s what I picked up on in those first two outings,” Pacheco said. “I noticed in every single one of her fights, the girls that come in to fight her, they come in defeated. They know the outcome of the fight. Whereas I was staying close to her in our first two outings and tonight as well, because I wanted the opportunity to land a big hand. I wanted the opportunity to connect a knee as she was coming to take me down. I knew I could capitalize on this moment, and tonight was the night.”