- PFL CEO Donn Davis revealed what’s next for Cris Cyborg, Larissa Pacheco and Kayla Harrison
- Davis confirmed Cyborg vs. Pacheco will happen first
PFL CEO Donn Davis has laid out his plans for Cris Cyborg, Larissa Pacheco and Kayla Harrison following the acquisition of Bellator. Davis confirmed that Cyborg vs. Harrison will finally happen but the Brazilian would face Pacheco first.
A champion vs. champion match
Speaking to the media, including MMA Junkie in his post-2023 PFL Championships presser, Davis said that in respect to Cyborg’s champion status at Bellator, a “champ versus champ” match against Pacheco has to happen before anything else. On the other hand, Davis guaranteed that the long-awaited Cyborg vs. Harrison will take place in 2024 “100 percent.”
“It’s champ versus champ. Larissa’s earned that but will Cris then fight Kayla in 2024? 100 percent, that is going to happen,” Davis declared. “Cris will have two fights in 2024. Kayla will have two fights in 2024. One of those will be Cris against Kayla, but we think that Larissa’s earned that. Once again, you have to give them champ versus champ. Cris is the champ of Bellator, Larissa’s the champ here, so you’ve got see that fight happen first, and then coming out of that, you’ll see Cris Cyborg against Kayla Harrison as the next fight in 2024.”
“We have not had talks about it yet but Cris wouldn’t be in the season. She would be on the pay-per-view or the one-off Bellator events just like how Kayla wasn’t in the season this year. So, both Kayla and Cris would just be in the one-off next year and not the full PFL season,” he added.
“In terms of [Cyborg’s] retirement, we haven’t talked to her but… I think she signed a big contract,” Davis said of Cyborg’s future. “I think she wants to add to her legacy. I don’t think she needs to do anything to earn her legacy. Her record speaks for itself. She’s one of two, three, or four, the best to have ever done it in the female MMA community, but I think she’d love the opportunity. We have two of the greatest fighters in the world in Kayla and Larissa… Who wouldn’t want to do that?,” he continued.
Kayla will have a big year
Harrison called Cyborg out once again following his 2023 PFL Championship win over Aspen Ladd. However, Kayla also reiterated that she is not willing to wait for too long for the Brazilian and would move on if the fight still wouldn’t happen.
As per Davis, they will come up with a great plan for Kayla and rest assured that the former PFL champ will take on the best of the best.
“We will develop a plan for her. In the meantime, Kayla has earned the right to fight the best and we’ll make sure that she is happy and that she has really, really good fights,” Davis revealed.
PFL now houses some of the best female MMA fighters in the world. With that in mind, it’s interesting to see how the promotion would create interesting narratives involving Cyborg, Pacheco, and Harrison.
Check out Davis’ full presser below:
