Preview: PFL 3 ‘Harrison vs. Mokhnatkina’

The first leg of the Professional Fighters League’s regular season comes to an end with PFL 3 on Friday at Esports Stadium Arlington in Arlington, Texas, and does so featuring a card complete with plenty of star power at the top of the bill. After a brief period as perhaps the sport’s most coveted free agent, Kayla Harrison returns to PFL in hopes of a threepeat as women’s lightweight champion. The two-time Olympic gold medalist will square off against Marina Mokhnatkina in the main event. Thus far, Harrison’s opponents have been little more than props in the cage as the American Top Team standout builds her resume. Harrison is not the only notable name set to compete at PFL 3. The card features a host of other prominent faces, including Ray Cooper III, Rory MacDonald and Anthony Pettis. The main draw airs on ESPN2 and streams to ESPN+ at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, while the prelims stream to ESPN+ at 5:30 p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. PT.

Now to the PFL 3 “Harrison vs. Mokhnatkina” preview:

Women’s Lightweights

Kayla Harrison (12-0, 11-0 PFL) vs. Marina Mokhnatkina (6-2, 1-0 PFL)

There was far more suspense involving Harrison’s dalliance with free agency than there was in any of her 2021 PFL bouts, as the two-time Olympic gold medalist rolled to her second consecutive championship while finishing all of her opposition inside of two rounds. Ultimately, Harrison elected to stick with the organization that pays her $1 million per belt, and she will once again be a heavy favorite over the PFL women’s lightweight field. The talent pool is shallow for women at 155 pounds, and Harrison possesses rare athleticism for a fighter at the weight class. The American Top Team product closes distance effortlessly and can execute a variety of trips and throws from the clinch. Once on the canvas, she is adept at maintaining control while landing purposeful ground-and-pound that can either finish a fight or create openings for a multitude of submissions. Thus far, the only person to make it to the judges against Harrison is UFC veteran Larissa Pacheco, who did little more than survive eight lopsided rounds against the judoka in a pair of 2019 decision defeats. Much will be made of Mokhnatkina’s background as a six-time combat sambo world champion, but there is little to suggest that the Russian will be able to seriously threaten Harrison. In her PFL debut, Mokhnatkina looked sluggish in outpointing converted bantamweight Claudia Zamora. Faced with a tentative opponent, Mokhnatkina did some damage with leg kicks but appeared to gas early and did not show the killer instinct one would like in that situation. Mokhnatkina has some decent experience, with bouts against Amanda Bell, Janay Harding and Liana Jojua on her ledger, but that will not adequately prepare her for Harrison, who has yet to show any chinks in her armor in the cage. The combat sambo-versus-judo matchup will not really be a factor here, and unless Mokhnatkina can threaten with a submission from her back, this shapes up as the typical Harrison blowout. Look for the two-time defending champion to get it done inside the distance yet again.

Harrison vs. Mokhnatkina
Cooper vs. Miranda
Pettis vs. Price
MacDonald vs. Cooper
The Prelims