Larissa Pacheco Karate Combat Debut

Larissa Pachecho has been out of competition 18 months after her 5 round decision loss to Cris Cyborg.  The Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Black Belt who is the last person to submit Kayla Harrison was released by PFL MMA following the loss to Cyborg where she lost 4 out of 5 rounds on every judges score card after having won 10 consecutive MMA fights with 8 of those coming via first round TKO/KO stoppages.

Pacheco who was an initial part of Amanda Nunes training camp for the originally announced Amanda Nunes X Kayla Harrison training camp had been positioning for an opportunity to return to the UFC following her exciting PFL run.  Prior to her PFL MMA fight Pachecho has stated that the UFC wanted to see if she could make the bantamweight division of 135lbs safely to compete.

Pacheco did make 135lbs and in her Karate Combat Debut defeated Yulia Stashchuk by first round TKO.  Staschuk was outmatched from the start with a 1-1 amateur record making her debut against the 2x PFL MMA Tournament Champion however she was competitive for half of the 3 minute opening round before dealing with the difference in punching power possessed by Pacheco. With the win it is unknown if the UFC will welcome her to the UFC Bantamweight division where a fight between Judo Kayla and Amanda Nunes is expected to take place later this summer.

While Kayla Harrison has two victories over Larissa Pacheco both of those fights occurred within 6 months of each other.  The final fight which was victories by larissa Pacheco was almost 3 years from the first two fights and showed the evolution of Larissa Pacheco and the stagnation of Kayla Harrison who visibly panicked once Larissa Pacheco defended the takedowns before quitting on herself.