WMMA Discussion #28

[PurpleStorm]

Nice upset in PFL this evening. Larissa Pacheco defeated Kayla Harrison by UD (49-48) on all 3 judges' cards. Really fun fight, highly contested throughout. Pacheco showed improvement in all aspects, especially in grappling. She was taken down six times but scored a lot with hammer fists to Kayla's face from bottom position. She also got three takedowns of her own. Most of us had it 2-2 going into the fifth round. I gave Pacheco 2, 4 & 5. Well worth watching. Aspen Ladd defeated Julia Budd. Threw hands with less caution than her past few fights. Rocked Budd a few times. Ditcheva scored an awesome round one KO.

 

[Kuksenkov]

I'm messy, so of course the biggest takeway tonight for me... Was Kayla's post fight interview. She was asked "what was different about Larissa this time around?", and her immediate answer was: "She felt so much stronger and bigger, I don't recall her being so big".

Kolesnyk said it first, now Harrison who is also very ummm "gifted" echoes it. Props to Larissa for making the necessary adjustments and fighting an uphill battle, but I'm with Kolesnyk on this one. What's your secret Larissa?

 

[Necrocrawler]

My picks

Pacheco by something (the time is now!!!)
Ladd by ud
Ditcheva by ud

I told you guys

 

[Mittens]

I told you guys

You did.

He did, guys. He did.

 

[Mmmmmmma1234]

I'm messy, so of course the biggest takeway tonight for me... Was Kayla's post fight interview. She was asked "what was different about Larissa this time around?", and her immediate answer was: "She felt so much stronger and bigger, I don't recall her being so big".

Kolesnyk said it first, now Harrison who is also very ummm "gifted" echoes it. Props to Larissa for making the necessary adjustments and fighting an uphill battle, but I'm with Kolesnyk on this one. What's your secret Larissa?

Her "secret" is alot of training to put on muscle and strength. Their first two fight was a LW vs a big BW/ small FW, the women today were the same size a true LW vs LW.

 

[Askafan]

Ladd looked huge, her mom should spend less time on OF and more in the kitchen preparing healthy meals.

OK Ditcheva maybe had a gimme fight - although it's hard to judge an undefeated opponent - but she still had to get the gal out of there, which she did in impressive fashion. The UFC seemingly saw more potential in Molly, which is a head-scratcher to me,

Pacheco and Harrison, so where do they go from here, 155 is a dead-end street?

 

[Shelter]

I was kind of assuming they were going to switch from a 155 lb tournament to a 125 lb tournament as a vehicle for Ditcheva. Then just throw randoms at Harrison as a campion of a nonexistent division. More bodies at flyweight to fill out the tournament bracket.

I’m not sure if last night changes that or not.

 

[Necrocrawler]

Pacheco and Harrison, so where do they go from here, 155 is a dead-end street?

That's a good question

My guess is that they will start a 145 division next year (probably a 125 also)

But i really don't know what they'll do with Kayla...
She should stop living in this division made for her and drop to 145 where she could eventually rematch Pacheco in a 4th bout
Still... We need to see how she reacts to her First loss also

 

[Eater of Souls]

I'm messy, so of course the biggest takeway tonight for me... Was Kayla's post fight interview. She was asked "what was different about Larissa this time around?", and her immediate answer was: "She felt so much stronger and bigger, I don't recall her being so big".

Kolesnyk said it first, now Harrison who is also very ummm "gifted" echoes it. Props to Larissa for making the necessary adjustments and fighting an uphill battle, but I'm with Kolesnyk on this one. What's your secret Larissa?

Harrison was a jacked 16 year old kid. The woman was probably built like a brick shithouse in the womb.

 

[Askafan]

See a lot of comments on twitter calling for Dana to sign Ditcheva. I'm resisting the urge to point out that if PFL do a million dollar 125 tournie then Dana's problem will be holding on to what he's got.

 

[Rizz]

Ditcheva looks good but like I always say consider the competition. If she can somehow get them to give her a Mill for fighting low talent fighters that good on her but I wont buy into the hype until she faces someone who at least know what blocking is. She is in the same situation as Sumiko is in Bellator.

The same thing happened to Aspen. She started 8- 0 but once the comp got harder she had very clear and obvious flaws that hindered her and 135 is not even a very talented division. I expect Aspen to do better at 145 because the talent level is even worse and split between multiple promotions. We all know my thoughts on Julia Budd and why I am not impressed with that win.

 

[Mmmmmmma1234]

Ladd looked huge, her mom should spend less time on OF and more in the kitchen preparing healthy meals.

OK Ditcheva maybe had a gimme fight - although it's hard to judge an undefeated opponent - but she still had to get the gal out of there, which she did in impressive fashion. The UFC seemingly saw more potential in Molly, which is a head-scratcher to me,

Pacheco and Harrison, so where do they go from here, 155 is a dead-end street?

I was kind of assuming they were going to switch from a 155 lb tournament to a 125 lb tournament as a vehicle for Ditcheva. Then just throw randoms at Harrison as a campion of a nonexistent division. More bodies at flyweight to fill out the tournament bracket.

I’m not sure if last night changes that or not.

That's a good question

My guess is that they will start a 145 division next year (probably a 125 also)

But i really don't know what they'll do with Kayla...
She should stop living in this division made for her and drop to 145 where she could eventually rematch Pacheco in a 4th bout
Still... We need to see how she reacts to her First loss also

I'm just guessing from Kayla's comments and the wink wink we're doing big things next year at women's flyweight, we've seen basically the end of 155 women.
Kayla said 'she'd never do a year long tournament again, from now on it will be less fights a year vs a better opponent and more at 145.' So if Kayla not in at 145 tournament I don't see them doing it. While 125 has alot of depth they can do a tournament, Ladd and Budd could be Kayla's 2 opponents for all of next year and Larissa might have just gotten a million dollar severance package.

 

[Kuksenkov]

I think the PFL is doing 125 and 145 next year. Some of this year's Lightweights already "announced" that they're dropping down to Featherweight for next year's season.

The PFL already knew Kayla isn't participating in next year's season, so they went with 145 instead of 155, as pretty much everyone but Shields and Fabian can make that weight (although Pacheco looks huge and I don't know if she can make 145 soon). With both Shields and Harrison losing, there's no reason to keep 155 as a division. Ladd is "leading the charge" for women's Featherweight next year. So there's Ladd, Budd, Jindrova, Kolesnyk, Mohknatkina, and Melo all saying they're taking/wanting to take part in next year's season. Add Ramona Pascual, a couple of other girls from their "Challenger Series", and that's your division.

 

[Genma90]

Great to hear that Pacheco has improved. I had a pretty low opinion of her after her UFC run, but she seems to be a much better fighter now. Great win for her.

Julia Budd is similar to Cindy Dandois - Pretty record until you look at the names, and then she loses to anyone with a pulse. Crazy how she was a top 5 FW for a number of years and yet she still has such a terrible resume.

 

[Rizz]

Julia Budd is similar to Cindy Dandois - Pretty record until you look at the names, and then she loses to anyone with a pulse. Crazy how she was a top 5 FW for a number of years and yet she still has such a terrible resume.

Been saying this exactly for years! Back when she was getting so much hype as Bellator Champion. People see wins and never look deeper. People think I am a hater when I look deeper than just wins/losses in a poor division.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

I was kind of assuming they were going to switch from a 155 lb tournament to a 125 lb tournament as a vehicle for Ditcheva. Then just throw randoms at Harrison as a campion of a nonexistent division. More bodies at flyweight to fill out the tournament bracket.

I’m not sure if last night changes that or not.

It's kind of a weird position. You've got Larissa who's now the Kayla killer who probably can't make 145 anymore, Kayla who doesn't want to do tournaments and Fabian who also can't make 145 as probably the best girls.

So do they do FW with Ladd, Budd, Jindrova and a bunch of new girls? Where do you get these girls from? Is it going to end up being people like Gina Mazany?

 

[Hellowhosthat]

See a lot of comments on twitter calling for Dana to sign Ditcheva. I'm resisting the urge to point out that if PFL do a million dollar 125 tournie then Dana's problem will be holding on to what he's got.

People keep saying this about PFL but aside from Burgos I don't think they've lost anyone they wanted to keep to PFL.

 

[Rizz]

People keep saying this about PFL but aside from Burgos I don't think they've lost anyone they wanted to keep to PFL.

I have some thoughts on this topic. Something I have hated about the UFC for awhile is they did not value exciting fighters who lost a lot because they went for it. That is why they sometimes have issues of too many boring fights. Shane was one of those exciting fighters who will never be champion but you should value them anyway. They figured that out too late.

I started noticing this when they parted ways with Leonard Garcia. It continued with them not re-signing Lucie Pudilova. At least now I think they understand somewhat the value of a fighter who will always put on amazing fights when they signed Michael Chandler. There is a reason why they put on on big cards.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

I have some thoughts on this topic. Something I have hated about the UFC for awhile is they did not value exciting fighters who lost a lot because they went for it. That is why they sometimes have issues of too many boring fights.

I started noticing this when they parted ways with Leonard Garcia. It continued with them not re-signing Lucie Pudilova. At least now I think they understand somewhat the value of a fighter who will always put on amazing fights when they signed Michael Chandler. There is a reason why they put on on big cards.

tbf with Leonard he lost like 5 fights in a row and probably should have lost 7. I think they tend to look for balance. You can't be too boring, but you can't be constantly losing either.

Unless you're Sam Alvey in which case you can be both.

 

[Rizz]

tbf with Leonard he lost like 5 fights in a row and probably should have lost 7. I think they tend to look for balance. You can't be too boring, but you can't be constantly losing either.

Unless you're Sam Alvey in which case you can be both.

You are totally right but sometimes you make an exception and I would have for him. All of his fights were amazing back in the day. They could have also thrown him some soft balls. If they keep chandler fighting the top 5 fighters he could very soon be on a streak like that.