Tomorrow, the PFL is hosting their ninth event of the 2022 season and the second of the playoffs. The card goes down in London, England and the best fighter on the roster takes center stage in the main event of the evening.
Former Olympic Gold Medalist and two-time defending PFL champion Kayla Harrison (14-0) will fight as the two seed against the third seed against Martina Jindrová (6-2). Jindrová got a win in The Challenger Series to start 2022 then she picked up two wins during the regular season.
While she looked impressive, she’s taking on another beast tomorrow night. Let’s be honest, anyone that Kayla Harrison fights in PFL is going to be a massive underdog. The competition is just not there and she’s as elite as it comes.
People were disappointed in her first fight when all she did was win a dominating decision. In her second fight, she resumed her form and won by stoppage. It’s going to take a miracle for Jindrová to win. The one person in the PFL that can challenge her is Larissa Pacheco (17-4).
Pacheco will be taking on Olena Kolesnyk (7-4) in the other semifinal matchup. Pacheco is the top overall seed for the second straight year. However, last year she missed weight and lost her spot in the PFL playoffs. She’s fought Harrison twice and lost twice but had good showing.
After losing twice last year (once to Larissa Pacheco), Kolesnyk has bounced back strong winning both of her fights this season. She’s a big betting underdog, but she’s shown great improvements this year.
PFL Featherweights
Arguably the fight with the most heat at PFL 9 is the featherweight semifinal matchup between Chris Wade (22-7) and Brendan Loughnane (24-4). Both men looked like they were on a course to fight each other last season.
However, they both were defeated by Movlid Khaybulaev in the playoffs. With Movlid not in field this year, both men had a shot to get back to each other should they handle business in the regular season. Both men went 2-0 which included Wade’s impressive knockout of Kyle Bochniak.
These two have been talking a lot and tomorrow night they settle who is better and who will be fighting for the PFL featherweight title. The other semifinal matchup features Bubba Jenkins (18-5) and Ryoji Kudo (11-3-1).
After losing to Loughnane to start the year, Kudo bounced back with a first round knockout over Alejandro Flores. That first round knockout earned him enough points to get into the playoffs and face off against Bubba Jenkins.
Jenkins lost in the semifinals last year to Chris Wade. He’s bounced back strong with two good wins this year to earn him this spot in the semifinals. All four playoff matchups tomorrow night have storylines tied to them and they should result in some big time action for the PFL.