What to watch for in the 2022 PFL World Championships

The PFL has a batch going connected successful its 4th twelvemonth of operations, including Challenger Series and PFL Europe, but marque nary mistake: Its biggest nighttime is inactive its play finals.

The 2022 World Championship volition instrumentality spot connected Friday wrong Hulu Theater astatine Madison Square Garden successful New York. Two-time lightweight champion Kayla Harrison (15-0) volition header the lawsuit against Larissa Pacheco (18-4), successful what Harrison says volition beryllium her last "season" quality for the PFL. She intends to determination connected to much of a "superfight" docket successful 2023.

In summation to marking the decision of the PFL's 4th season, with $1 cardinal championships awarded successful six value classes, the lawsuit volition besides beryllium the combat promotion's archetypal foray into the pay-per-view model. The PFL Championship airs connected ESPN+ (main paper connected PPV astatine 8 p.m. ET, prelims astatine 6 p.m.).

There is simply a batch to look guardant to connected this card, a batch of questions to beryllium answered. Here are a fewer cardinal storylines.

Buy the PFL championships connected ESPN+ PPV

Resist the impulse to slumber connected Larissa Pacheco

Let's beryllium honest, it's hard not to. It's intolerable not to. I didn't marque it 2 paragraphs into this communicative earlier I mentioned that her lightweight finals opponent, Harrison, is eyeing superfights successful 2023. The anticipation is that Harrison volition triumph this combat due to the fact that that's each she's done her full MMA career, and she's already beaten Pacheco twice. Just chopped her the $1 cardinal check, springiness her the loop and determination on.

But mixed martial arts loves to ruin aboriginal plans. You cannot look excessively acold up successful this sport. It's nary concealed the PFL wants to onslaught a woody for Harrison to look Bellator MMA's Cris Cyborg adjacent year, and the promotion deserves recognition for efforting that, arsenic it's a combat that should happen. But erstwhile thing feels excessively evident oregon astir predetermined, MMA has a mode of humbling us.

Pacheco is lone close present hitting her prime. She's 28. She was 25 the past clip she fought Harrison. And though Pacheco has mislaid each circular successful which she's ever competed against her, she's ne'er been finished by Harrison. She's lone 1 of 2 Harrison opponents who tin accidental that. And Pacheco's powerfulness is precise real. She's riding 5 consecutive first-round knockouts.

Harrison is each spot arsenic bully arsenic we've each made her retired to be, but she besides has not faced overmuch adversity. At all. That's a recognition to her accomplishment and her preparation, but until we spot her look adversity, until we spot her suffer a circular oregon get wounded by a shot, we truly can't accidental for definite however she'll grip it. Adversity successful a combat is simply a antithetic animal. There are ingredients present for an upset, and we shouldn't disregard them.

Stevie Ray is MMA's Comeback of the Year and 1 of 2022's champion stories

Ray fundamentally retired from MMA 2 years ago. He'd conscionable signed a four-fight woody with the UFC, but physicians with the promotion told him he'd apt ne'er combat again owed to a genu injury. He was 30 years old, and he'd mislaid his vocation and his quality to marque wealth for his family. Not to mention, his individuality arsenic a nonrecreational fighter, which he'd been since 2010.

So, the UFC declaration gets terminated. But Ray decides that, contempt the genu problems, MMA is what helium knows and helium looks to motion elsewhere. Then COVID-19 hits, which eliminates opportunities for Ray to publication a fight. He catches a interruption erstwhile helium lands a PFL contract, returns from a three-year layoff to a regular-season format and loses to Alex Martinez successful April.

Ray went into his 2nd and last regular-season matchup this twelvemonth needing a decorativeness by the 2:42 people of the 3rd circular oregon helium was out. No playoffs. No warrant of different combat successful 2022. And that decorativeness had to travel against 1 of the top lightweights of each clip successful erstwhile UFC champ Anthony Pettis. When you instrumentality each of Ray's communicative into account, his backmost could not person been much up against the wall.

And past helium goes retired successful June and finishes Pettis successful the 2nd circular with 1 of the apical submissions of the twelvemonth to marque the playoffs, and beats him again conscionable six weeks aboriginal successful a rematch to beforehand to the finals. Ray was done warring professionally, and present he's successful a spot to assertion $1 cardinal and a PFL title against Olivier Aubin-Mercier. Win oregon lose, he's my Comeback Fighter of the Year successful 2022, easily.

A fewer speedy hitters connected immoderate different storylines:

Fighter nether the astir pressure: The reply is ever Harrison, due to the fact that expectations are truthful precocious and due to the fact that of what she's hoping to beryllium progressive successful adjacent year. In bid to support this "Queen of MMA" communicative she's built, she has to beryllium perfect. So, there's ever unit successful that.

I volition adhd different name, however: Sadibou Sy. He's been successful the PFL from the precise beginning. Four years, without a finals win. He's facing a assured hostile astatine welterweight successful Dilano Taylor, who doesn't person overmuch to lose. Taylor started the twelvemonth connected Challenger Series and was a precocious summation to this season. If Sy is going to triumph it all, this feels similar the year.

Best accidental to acceptable up a 2023 run: Aspen Ladd. It's each close determination for you now, Aspen. Three years ago, it looked similar Ladd's vocation was astir to skyrocket. The UFC booked her a main lawsuit slot against Germaine de Randamie, successful her backyard of Northern California. And thing has gone good for her since.

Ladd, 27, struggled to marque value for that main lawsuit and mislaid to de Randamie via knockout successful conscionable 16 seconds. That was her archetypal nonrecreational loss. She is 1-3 successful her past 4 fights and was released by the UFC earlier this twelvemonth aft repeatedly failing to marque value arsenic a 135-pound bantamweight. Now with PFL, she'll beryllium warring astatine 145 pounds, starting with Friday's diagnostic (non-playoffs) gathering with erstwhile Bellator featherweight champ Julia Budd.

With Harrison saying she won't vie successful the play adjacent year, the women's lightweight part volition beryllium replaced by featherweight, and the part volition request a caller look and a caller identity. Ladd is susceptible of being that, but things person to commencement to click now. This tin really inactive beryllium a bully twelvemonth for her, if she wins this PFL debut.

Best combat of the finals: Brendan Loughnane vs. Bubba Jenkins. These featherweights are 2 of the astir entertaining fighters connected the card, some successful and retired of the cage. It's a competitory combat that's apt to spot momentum swings and could perchance spell each 5 rounds. The PFL intelligibly agrees with this assessment, arsenic this combat is the co-main event, down lone the prima powerfulness of Harrison successful the headliner.

Biggest question: "How does the PPV perform?" Of course, determination are a cardinal questions surrounding the company's champion paper of the year, but the biggest question surrounds the concern of it. The PFL amazed a batch of radical by electing to instrumentality this paper to PPV. It's been a extremity of the institution for immoderate time, but whenever that alteration successful concern exemplary came, it was going to beryllium met with uncertainty.

Asking an assemblage to wage for what they usually devour for "free" is, historically, a challenge. This is simply a big, large nighttime for the PFL brand. It's a trial that evidently means a large woody to its ownership and investors. Founder Donn Davis and CEO Peter Murray person shown they are successful this concern for the agelong haul. They've spent the past 4 years steadily gathering PFL's roster, vulnerability and broadcast quality. This PPV doesn't request to interruption records, but it needs to amusement that those efforts person resulted successful advancement and spectator demand. How this lawsuit performs volition beryllium of large involvement to the industry.

2022 PFL Championship combat card

ESPN+ PPV, 8 p.m. ET
Women's lightweight: Kayla Harrison vs. Larissa Pacheco
Men's featherweight: Brendan Loughnane vs. Bubba Jenkins
Heavyweight: Ante Delija vs. Matheus Scheffel
Women's featherweight: Aspen Ladd vs. Julia Budd
Men's lightweight: Olivier Aubin-Mercier vs. Stevie Ray
Welterweight: Sadibou Sy vs. Dilano Taylor
Light heavyweight: Robert Wilkinson vs. Omari Akhmedov

ESPN+, 6 p.m. ET
Men's featherweight: Marlon Moraes vs. Sheymon Moraes
Men's lightweight: Natan Schulte vs. Jeremy Stephens
Catchweight: Magomed Magomedkerimov vs. Gleison Tibau
Women's flyweight: Dakota Ditcheva vs. Katherine Corogenes
Lightweight (amateur): Biaggio Ali Walsh vs. Tom Graesser