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After an unexpected victory over Kayla Harrison, Larissa Pacheco is unsure of her next move, but she undoubtedly has some plans.
Pacheco understood that she would ultimately face Harrison soon, perhaps even in her next match, after delivering the two-time judo Olympic gold champion her first loss in mixed martial arts. The 28-year-old Brazilian is aware that Harrison now has two victories over her and that there is still an unresolved matter among them.
“Like I told her [after our fight on Friday], I’ll gladly give her the rematch,” Pacheco said on The MMA Hour. “It’s the fight to happen and she deserves it. I’m losing 2-to-1 so I need to catch up with her.”
The PFL has not yet finalized any choices regarding the scheduling for the 2023 campaign, though Pacheco expects to run into Harrison once more. Harrison had already made up her mind that she wouldn't compete in the traditional regular-season tournament style the next year, preferring to concentrate on more manageable "super fights" for her physique.
While Pacheco is open to the concept of those same one-off fights that may give her the chance to face Harrison again or other elite competitors in the same division, she, however, is not opposed to re-joining for another season, which could award her an additional $1 million payout.'
“Everybody’s talking about super fights,” Pacheco said. “Kayla was talking about the super fight with [Cris] Cyborg. Now I’m in the game, too. Let’s do a super fight, Cyborg. Let’s do it at 155. They’re super fights, let’s do these things. I’m here too, now."
Harrison has been publicly requesting a matchup with Cris Cyborg, but her defeat will probably diminish any anticipation for a future matchup. While Pacheco thinks she may be in the queue for that bout now that she's riding the crest of her shocking victory over the two-time PFL champion.
“I just fought Kayla. I have the utmost respect for Cyborg,” Pacheco said. “This is what we do. This is what she does. This is what we do. This is what the fans want.
“Yeah, I want to be in this game. I’d like to fight Cyborg. I want to fight Kayla. I want to be in the middle of this. I want to make it happen.”
Aspen Ladd, an ex-UFC fighter who won a split decision over Julia Budd at the PFL championship event this past Friday, made a convincing introduction with the PFL and could be a second legit contender who tickles Pacheco's attention in 2023.
After her victory, Pacheco was given praise for executing the necessary adjustments to defeat Harrison, but Ladd later disparaged both women by saying that their reputations "are nothing compared to the people that I have fought."
Pacheco responded that she did not comprehend why Ladd saw the urge to attack her, but maybe underneath it all, it was just an effort to garner extra limelight by running after the champion of the show's main event while she was participating on the undercard.
“I don’t know why she’s saying these things,” Pacheco said. “She just got here. I think she’s trying to come over to the window and trying to catch the bus in movement. She got cut from another organization because she couldn’t make weight.”