Kayla Harrison is undefeated no more.
The two-time PFL champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist suffered the first loss of her mixed martial arts career on Friday night at the 2022 PFL Championship at Madison Square Garden at the hands of heavy-handed Brazilian Larissa Pacheco.
Harrison has since issued an emotional statement on the “painful” loss in the main event where $1 million and the title was on the line.
“I obviously just lost my title. That hurts and it’s going to hurt for a while,” Harrison said, as transcribed by Bloody Elbow. “I know I have a really blessed life, so although it hurts, I know I’m going to come back stronger. It’s different (from my losses in Judo) in the sense there’s $1 million on the line. I feel like I’m the face of the promotion, so I dropped the ball a little bit. But losing is losing, you know. For me, it’s like I want to crawl out of my skin. I can’t stand it. It’s painful.
“I don’t have an excuse. I don’t have a reason. I have a lot to work on. Failure is my fuel. Some days you’re the nail and some days you’re the hammer. I feel like I’ve been the hammer for a while, and today I experienced being the nail.”
“I just think I talk a lot about legacy, right?” Harrison added. “My legacy isn’t just what I do inside the cage. It’s how I carry myself outside the cage. I think about what I want my kids to know and I’m not ashamed of myself tonight. I’m proud. I went out there, I fought and I lost. But I can hold my head high and carry myself with dignity and I think that a real champion shows up in the good times and the bad.
“I want kids everywhere to know that, ‘listen, I fell down tonight. I fell flat on my face. I lost in front of the whole world, and it hurts and it’s going to hurt for a while. But it’s also an opportunity for growth and opportunity for me to become a better fighter, a better person.’ That is part of my legacy, not just the wins, but what I do during the losses, as well.”
With the loss, Harrison drops to 15-1 in MMA.
Pacheco, meanwhile, improved her record to 19-4 and now sits atop the PFL women’s lightweight division and is $1 million richer.
