Fight Facts: PFL 2022 Regular Season 3

Fight Facts is a breakdown of all of the interesting information and cage curiosities on every card, with some puns, references and portmanteaus to keep things fun. These deep stat dives delve into the numbers, providing historical context and telling the stories behind those numbers.

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TOTAL NUMBER OF PFL FIGHTS: 748
TOTAL NUMBER OF PFL EVENTS: 80

The Professional Fighters League wrapped up the first round of its regular season with welterweights and women’s lightweights vying for playoff spots. Results before and during the event put both brackets up for grabs, while bringing questions for past dominant champs. PFL 3: 2022 Regular Season featured a couple shocking weight misses, an undefeated destroyer that did not destroy and a pair of old lions showing out like vintage performers.

More Splits than Hanna-Barbera: Throughout the 11-fight card, four bouts ended up with split scorecards. This four split decision tally is the highest of a single event in company history, with no past show featured more than two.

Excruciating Start: The first six bouts on the card all went to three-round decisions, making this event the first to start in such a fashion since WSOF 26 in 2015. While PFL 2018 9 started with seven straight fights that went the distance, they were all two-rounders.

Judo + Sambo = Stall: The decision win for Kayla Harrison over Marina Mokhnatkina earned her three points, as she remains in second place for the women’s lightweight standings at the moment. It is the first time she has gone the distance since the year-end championships of the 2019 season.

Shattering the Glass Ceiling: Even though it came by decision, Harrison has racked up 12 wins under the PFL banner. This ties her for the second-most all-time with Ray Cooper III, while trailing Lance Palmer’s 15.

No Pound-for-Pound Consideration Yet: Virtually flawless in 12 appearances with PFL, Harrison now has claimed the top spot for the greatest undefeated record in company history. Justin Gaethje and David Branch each prevailed 10 times without a loss under the promotion’s banner, while Marlon Moraes was previously tied with Harrison with 11 victories apiece opposite zero defeats.

Passing MMK: As she has fought 12 times and won them all, Harrison’s win streak is the lengthiest in World Series of Fighting-PFL history. She overcomes 11-fight stretches for Magomed Magomedkerimov, Moraes and Palmer.

She Can Do It, And Does It: Harrison remains as the winningest female fighter in league history with 12, while also improving her own record for the most appearances as well. Her three decision wins on her PFL ledger tie her with former foe Taylor Guardado for the most of any female fighter.

No Value Whatsoever: Although some books showed her at an astronomical -10000, Harrison closed as a -4000 favorite ahead of her matchup with the sambo practitioner Mokhnatkina. This is the fourth time in her PFL run that she has clocked in at -4000 or higher, and the only other person favored that heavily under the company banner was Andre Harrison at -4500 in 2018.

The Lion Sleeps Well Tonight: In the co-headliner, Carlos Leal Miranda upset Cooper by a shocking decision. “The Lion,” stepping in as a late replacement after two wins on the PFL Challenger Series, improved his win streak to 11 straight dating back to 2015.

The Dark Horse Emerges at 170: Miranda has not suffered a loss since September 2014, when he dropped a decision to Eduardo Garvon. At that time, eight of the other 21 competitors on the card had not yet made their pro debuts.

Looked Very Un-Cooper: Ahead of the match with Miranda, Cooper missed weight by 5.4 pounds, making him ineligible to win playoff points with a win and deducting one point from his standings. He is the first PFL fighter to ever miss weight multiple times and still compete at a PFL card.

Putting the Show in Showtime: Snagging a triangle choke on Myles Price in the lone men’s lightweight match on the card, Anthony Pettis claimed the top spot on the standings with his first-round finish at 4:17. His six-point finish puts him about ex-foe Raush Manfio, who earned four with his stoppage at PFL 1.

Still In His Prime at 32: In two minutes, 23 seconds, Rory MacDonald posted up with the top spot on the welterweight standings for a six-point submission of Brett Cooper. He scored the only finish of his division on this fight card.

Similar Start, Differing Trajectories: Both MacDonald and B. Cooper began their storied careers back in 2005. Their debuts took place on the exact same date of October 15, in the western parts of North America. MacDonald fought in British Columbia, Canada, while B. Cooper competed in San Diego. They both prevailed that night by first-round stoppage.

The Pacheco Train Rolling: Larissa Pacheco started her 2022 run off strong with an 85-second knockout of Zamzagul Fayzallanova. She recorded the lone stoppage at women’s lightweight, earning her six points and likely a playoff spot after just one win.

Can She Make a Run? Throughout her career, Pacheco has earned 15 of her 16 wins inside the distance. Her lone decision victory came in 2019 over Sarah Kaufman.

Welterweight in Shambles: R. Cooper was not the only welterweight with problems this season, as Magomedkerimov withdrew from his match with Joao Zeferino due to visa issues. On extremely short notice, Challenger Series winner Dilano Taylor stepped in and won a split decision. “The Postman” became the first fighter to beat Zeferino in nearly five years.

Negative Yardage: Over the course of three rounds, Genah Fabian beat Julia Budd by decision. The Kiwi missed weight by 4.8 pounds, and therefore did not earn any points for her victory and instead lost one.

Unstreakiest Streak: Sadibou Sy managed to take a split decision over Nikolay Aleksakhin in their rematch, securing three points towards the playoffs. Since joining the PFL in 2018, the Swede has never notched consecutive results of any kind, be it wins, losses, draws or no contests after 11 appearances.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into PFL 3: 2022 Regular Season, Fayzallanova had never been finished (eight fights), Budd had never lost by decision (19 fights) and Helena Kolesnyk had never won on the scorecards (10 fights).