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Kayla Harrison’s seasonal PFL reign culminates this year as she announces this will be her final year

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Earlier this week, 2-time PFL women’s lightweight champion, Kayla Harrison, announced that the culmination of this season will be her final in the league format.

Since her emergence into MMA in 2018, the 32-year-old has had a stranglehold on the PFL women’s 155lb division, winning 14 bouts during her time. In under a months time, she will have the chance to win the lightweight title for a record breaking, third time. In her title bout, she will take on Brazilian, Larissa Pacheco, a women who has already fallen once before under Harrison’s reign.

During the PFL London post fight scrum, VMTV asked Harrison, what improvements she thinks Pacheco has made since their first fight back in 2019? She replied with hesitation: “She looks very strong… very strong. Her hands look quick, she looks sharp… She looks great.”

Kayla harrison talking to the media after pfl london

Harrison isn’t the first fighter, and won’t be the last, to talk about the gruelling nature of a PFL season for the fighters. Brit, Brendan Loughnane, has also openly admitted that he believes the PFL season format is “the toughest thing any athlete can do”. Harrison told us: “Just because I make it look easy, doesn’t mean it is. You now have people who have fought in the UFC, people who have fought in Bellator, people who have fought all over saying this is the hardest thing they have done in their career, they’re not lying.

“4 fights in 5 and a half months is a mental and physical grind. It’s not for the feint of heart, I’ve done it 3 times now, trust me, I know.”

Kayla harrison talking on the gruelling nature of the pfl season format

Despite Harrison announcing it’ll be her final time competing in the season format, with PFL’s recent announcement of a super-fight league, there are still options for her within the promotion.

Not only that, but rumours will always rumble on whether the unbeaten dominance of Harrison will translate to another promotion. MMA fans always fantasise over the possible match-ups with Cyborg and Amanda Nunes. Maybe now, those fantasies can really become realities.