It would be convenient to say Larissa Pacheco has a lighter lift this season. She won the PFL women’s lightweight 2022 season championship last November, earning the $1 million bonus the hard way with a stunning upset of previously undefeated Kayla Harrison, who had beaten her the first two times they’d met.
Now Pacheco is competing in a division 10 pounds lighter and with Harrison not part of the season. That sounds like a lighter lift, but it might not have felt so on Friday night.
Pacheco opened the 2023 season victoriously in the women’s featherweight main event of PFL 2 in Las Vegas, but Julia Budd gave her a lot to handle in a fight that went the distance.
All three judges scored the bout for Pacheco (30-27, 30-27, 29-28), but Budd, a former Bellator champ, had her moments in all three rounds.
The decision earned Pacheco three points in the season standings. Amber Leibrock is in first place after scoring a first-round knockout of Martina Jindrova, earning six points. Another notable result for the women’s 145-pound division: Olena Kolesnyk won a majority decision over former UFC fighter Aspen Ladd.
The evening at The Theater at Virgin Hotels also featured heavyweights, and 2021 champion Bruno Cappelozza delivered the highlight performance. He knocked out Matheus Scheffel with a straight right hand just 2:15 into their co-main event. That puts Cappelozza in first place in the heavyweight standings.