Two-time PFL champion Kayla Harrison is focused on a third league title and not a potential crossover superfight against Cris Cyborg.
Harrison earned a unanimous decision victory over Marina Mokhnatkina at PFL 3 in Arlington, TX on Friday night. Many fans and pundits expected her to make quick work of Mokhnatkina, who proved to be a tougher test than most anticipated.
Harrison’s first win of 2022 was the culmination of weeks and months of speculation during her widely-publicized free agency. A major talking point was a potential fight against Cyborg in either Bellator or a cross-promotional bout.
During her PFL 3 post-fight press conference, Harrison put Cyborg in the rear-view mirror as she moves ahead in the 2022 season.
“On to the next fight,” Harrison told MMA News and other media outlets. “My focus isn’t on Cyborg right now. Obviously, a season with four fights in four and a half months is grueling, it’s a grind. I see a lot of areas where I need to keep getting better, so my focus is on me. Not on Cyborg. I’m tired of talking about her, tired of thinking about her. Now she’s going to be a free agent, the ball’s in her court. If she wants this fight, she knows where I’m at.”
Despite hinting that she feels a fight with Cyborg is inevitable, Harrison seems to be re-focused on the next chapter of her PFL tenure. She re-signed with the league earlier this year after the PFL matched an offer from Bellator.
Harrison had also been linked to a potential fight against Amanda Nunes before Nunes lost her UFC bantamweight title to Julianna Peña.
An interesting element of the discussion is the PFL’s new pay-per-view division that is scheduled to launch next year. Harrison will surely be a big factor in the division’s launch, and a fight with Cyborg could be in the works to kick things off.
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