Tag: Julia Budd

Larissa Pacheco grinds out unanimous decision win over Julia Budd – PFL 2 Highlights

Larissa PachecoOn Friday night, Larissa Pacheco returned to the PFL Smart Cage as the 2023 women’s featherweight tournament began. Handing former two-time PFL champion Kayla Harrison the first loss of her career in last year’s PFL Championship, Pacheco took her first step toward scoring another million-dollar check as she met women’s MMA veteran Julia Budd in […]

Larissa Pacheco

On Friday night, Larissa Pacheco returned to the PFL Smart Cage as the 2023 women’s featherweight tournament began. Handing former two-time PFL champion Kayla Harrison the first loss of her career in last year’s PFL Championship, Pacheco took her first step toward scoring another million-dollar check as she met women’s MMA veteran Julia Budd in the evening’s main event.

Larissa Pacheco came out in the opening round and immediately pressured Budd. Pacheco was in clear control, imposing her will on the feet, but Budd managed to take things to the ground near the halfway point of the first. Budd maintained top control through the end of the round but offered little offense as Pacheco defended well.

The second round started similarly with Pacheco pressuring, but as she began to slow down, Budd started to find her range which caused a bit of a swing in the live odds. Just over a minute to go, Budd shot in for a takedown but got a little overzealous allowing Pacheco to easily reverse and finish the round on top. Despite the way things ended, the round was very competitive, leaving many fans on Twitter to wonder if we were even going into the second.

Likely knowing the fight was close, Pacheco took a measured approach in the third, working for a takedown and taking Budd’s back by the halfway point. Budd was eventually able to escape out the backdoor and wind up on top, but Pacheco’s strength allowed her to reverse position with just over a minute to go. With seconds to go, Pacheco let her hands go, looking to score as many points as possible before the judges were asked to render their decision.

Official Result: Larissa Pacheco def. Julia Budd via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-27)

Check Out Highlights From Larissa Pacheco vs. Julie Budd at PFL 2 Below:

Updated PFL 6 Card: Budd Out, Kayla Harrison Gets New Opponent

PFL 6 will see a new lightweight main event now that Julia Budd withdrew due to injury, prompting Kayla Harrison to be matched with new opponent, Kaitlyn Young. ESPN was the first to report the news of the main event change. As of this writing, the nature of Budd’s injury is undisclosed. Budd was a…

Continue Reading Updated PFL 6 Card: Budd Out, Kayla Harrison Gets New Opponent at MMA News.

PFL 6 will see a new lightweight main event now that Julia Budd withdrew due to injury, prompting Kayla Harrison to be matched with new opponent, Kaitlyn Young.

ESPN was the first to report the news of the main event change. As of this writing, the nature of Budd’s injury is undisclosed.

Budd was a longtime member of Bellator MMA before making the leap over to PFL last year. She was the Bellator featherweight champion in her time there and successfully defended her title three times.

Budd made her PFL debut last year in Oct. 2021 with a unanimous decision win over Kaitlin Young, making her first foray at lightweight a success. She ran into some trouble in her first fight of the 2022 season, losing to Genah Fabian by decision after Fabian missed weight for the bout.

Budd’s replacement, Kaitlyn Young, has a pro MMA record of 12-12, last competing in a unanimous decision loss to Budd last year.

Harrison has yet to lose in her professional MMA career. She is seven years younger than Budd and has been running the PFL lightweight division since 2018. After testing free agency she decided to stick with PFL for the 2022 season and plans to take home the championship and the one million dollar prize at the end.

The updated PFL 6 full fight card is as follows:

Kayla Harrison vs. Kaitlyn Young
Rory MacDonald vs. Sadibou Sy
Ray Cooper III vs. Brett Cooper
Magomed Magomedkerimov vs. Joao Zeferino
Jarrah Al-Silawi vs. Magomed Umalatov
Larissa Pacheco vs. Genah Fabian
Nikolay Aleksakhin vs. Gleison Tibau
Marina Mokhnatkina vs. Abigail Montes
Martina Jindrova vs. Zamzagul Fayzallanova
Olena Kolesnyk vs. Vanessa Melo

Continue Reading Updated PFL 6 Card: Budd Out, Kayla Harrison Gets New Opponent at MMA News.

Kayla Harrison Looks Forward To Fighting Julia Budd In The Future

Kayla Harrison is excited to see PFL signing some new blood.  The news broke yesterday former Bellator featherweight champion, Julia Budd, has signed with the Professional Fighters League. Ahead of her second bid at $1 million, Harrison spoke with MMA Junkie about her promotion’s newest acquisition.  “That’s great for the PFL,” Harrison told MMA Junkie. […]

Continue Reading Kayla Harrison Looks Forward To Fighting Julia Budd In The Future at MMA News.

Kayla Harrison is excited to see PFL signing some new blood. 

The news broke yesterday former Bellator featherweight champion, Julia Budd, has signed with the Professional Fighters League. Ahead of her second bid at $1 million, Harrison spoke with MMA Junkie about her promotion’s newest acquisition. 

“That’s great for the PFL,” Harrison told MMA Junkie. “I think it’s awesome they’re continuing to build their women’s division, and she’s obviously a Bellator champion, former champion, and it’s a great signing.”

Kayla Harrison Dandois
Kayla Harrison and Cindy Dandois in their lightweight fight at PFL 6 (PHOTO: Cooper Neill / PFL)

Budd brings a professional record of 14 wins and 3 losses. The only person to defeat Budd in the last decade is Cris Cyborg. Her other two losses came at the hands of some rather famous names in Ronda Rousey and Amanda Nunes. 

Harrison is familiar with Budd but didn’t know PFL signed her until she was informed in the interview. The Olympic judoka offered some praise for Budd for being well known but doesn’t seem concerned with the potential opponent. 

“I think I’ve watched her fight before, of course,” Harrison said. “She’s a bit of a bigger name in the sport, but I didn’t know they signed her. I’m not privy to these conversations. I’ve said it many times, I’ll fight whoever is in front of me, I don’t really care.”

She continued, “I think it’s an exciting fight. I look forward to competing against her one day if the stars align. And if not, I wish her the best of luck in her PFL career.”

Harrison, undefeated in 11 professional bouts, is currently in training for October 27th. It’s then that she’ll meet Taylor Guardado in the Finals of the PFL Lightweight tournament. 

After her defeat to “Cyborg,”  Budd rebounded with a pair of victories over Jessica Miele and Dayana Silva before leaving Bellator. 

Who do you think would win in a match between Kayla Harrison and Julia  Budd?

Continue Reading Kayla Harrison Looks Forward To Fighting Julia Budd In The Future at MMA News.

Bellator 256 Adds Cat Zingano vs Olivia Parker

Bellator 256 has added Cat Zingano in a featherweight match up against Olivia Parker in a match that could put the winner in line for a fight with Cris Cyborg according to ESPN. Bellator 256 is headlined by the light heavyweight World Grand Prix quarte…

Bellator 256 has added Cat Zingano in a featherweight match up against Olivia Parker in a match that could put the winner in line for a fight with Cris Cyborg according to ESPN. Bellator 256 is headlined by the light heavyweight World Grand Prix quarter-final bout between Ryan Bader and Lyoto Machida at Mohegan Sun […]

Bellator 244’s Julia Budd Fighting Against Racism In Canada

While Julia Budd has been prepping for her Bellator 244 matchup against Jessy Miele, the former featherweight champion has been battling a bigger fight outside the cage. “I think that us as Canadians, sometimes we look across the border, and we t…

While Julia Budd has been prepping for her Bellator 244 matchup against Jessy Miele, the former featherweight champion has been battling a bigger fight outside the cage. “I think that us as Canadians, sometimes we look across the border, and we think (racism) is an American problem, and we’re not aware of what goes on […]

The post Bellator 244’s Julia Budd Fighting Against Racism In Canada appeared first on MMA News.

Top 5 MMA Fights Of Q1 2020

As we come to the end of the first quarter of the year in MMA, there have been a few fights that have happened that are deserving of being considered “Fight of the Year.” However, with the second quarter of the year in MMA being postponed due to the CO…

As we come to the end of the first quarter of the year in MMA, there have been a few fights that have happened that are deserving of being considered “Fight of the Year.” However, with the second quarter of the year in MMA being postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, now might be a […]

The post Top 5 MMA Fights Of Q1 2020 appeared first on MMA News.