Scouting Report: Larissa Pacheco

Larissa Pacheco

Born: Sept. 7, 1994 (Age: 28) in Belem, Brazil
Division: Women’s Lightweight
Height: 5’6”
Reach: 69”
Record: 19-4 (8-2 PFL)
Association: Joao Bastos Team
Stage of Career: Prime

Summary: Pacheco has shown major improvement each season in the Professional Fighters League and now easily ranks as the best striker in the women’s lightweight division. Her punches are crisp, technical, accurate and powerful, with a nice jab setting up her two best shots: the left hook and right cross, both of which have legitimate knockout power. Making her harder to avoid, Pacheco is constantly throwing combinations and can attack from range with solid kicks. While her grappling is stout enough to beat weaker opponents—she features a nice judo hip toss and a solid guillotine choke—it remains a relative weakness against good grapplers. Still, in her upset of Kayla Harrison, she showed improvements in takedown defense, the ability to get up and minimizing damage off her back, not to mention the best cardio of her career. At 28, she may not have even peaked yet.

STRIKING

• Stance: Orthodox.
• Hand Speed: Slightly above average.
• Jab: A little telegraphed but straight and powerful.
• Cross: Though slightly telegraphed, it is straight, technical and somewhat faster than her other punches. Most importantly, it is powerful enough to have resulted in multiple knockouts.
• Left Hook: Accurate with solid arc, rotation and power. Like the cross, it has hurt and finished more than one opponent.
• Overhand Right: Practically never throws it.
• Uppercuts: Hardly ever throws them.
• Solitary Striker or Volume Puncher: Throws punches in bunches constantly.
• Favorite Combination(s): The one-two.
• Leg Kicks: Technical and accurate, but they lack some power.
• Body Kicks: Carry the same properties as her leg kicks, whether it is a roundhouse or a front kick to the body.
• Head kicks: They likely hold some power, but they are too lumbering and telegraphed.
• Chains Kicks to Punches: No.

Pacheco has developed into an excellent striker and shown considerable improvement every season she has been in the PFL. Her punches have gotten faster, more accurate, technical and harder. She fires a solid jab, which sets up her dangerous right cross and left hook. Pacheco loves to throw punches in bunches and calls upon a number of combinations, though her favorite is the one-two. Her kicks are decent and technical, but they lack a little power. Pacheco profiles as the best striker in the world at 155 pounds.

CLINCH

• Physical Strength: Serviceable.
• Technique: Decent.
• Knees: She rarely throws them—Pacheco prefers to grapple instead—and they are average when she does due to their lack of power.
• Elbows: Does not throw them at all.
• Defense Against Knees/Elbows: Satisfactory.

Pacheco can potentially be exploited in the clinch—Macy Chiasson threw her from there for a takedown—but she has made strides in the area, as shown in her three fights against Harrison. Most fighters have been unsuccessful in making much headway against her. The clinch may not be an area of strength for Pacheco, but it does not appear to be as much of a weakness as it once did.

GRAPPLING

• Wrestling from a Shot: Rarely tries.
• Wrestling in the Clinch: She favors a judo hip toss she used against to get Chiasson, Karol Rosa and Kaufman down, and it is easily the best part of her grappling game. While she managed to catch Kaufman’s kick and waistlock her to the ground while also using an outside trip in the clinch, Pacheco had a significant size advantage.
• Takedown Defense: Seems to be up to par, as she was able to fend off some of Harrison’s weaker attempts in their third bout.
• Ability to Return to Feet: Limited but improving. She can butt scoot to the cage and wall walk back up, but Pacheco is still fairly deliberate about it.
• Submissions: She has an effective guillotine choke at her disposal, though it does not work against better opponents. Pacheco has also used an armbar from her back, but it only figures to be effective against those with virtually no Brazilian jiu-jitsu background.
• Defense/Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from the Bottom: Slightly below average. Pacheco does not control the biceps well and is fortunate that the PFL does not allow elbows, as Harrison likely would have finished her on multiple occasions. She does throw up many submissions from the bottom, although most are not particularly dangerous, and she can regain guard if mounted.
• Top Control: Pacheco is cognizant of the importance of the position and not going for phantom submissions.
• Ground-and-Pound: She can finish nicely if she moves into mount and has plenty of separation against an already-dazed opponent, as she has been known to hammer away with right hands. However, in an actual guard against an opponent who is not stunned, her efforts are basic and not particularly threatening, consisting of arm punches at an average rate of fire.

While Pacheco can outwrestle and even submit opponents with weak grappling, her own deficiencies have been a liability historically. That does not seem to be the case as much anymore. She can still be taken down, although she now stuffs weaker attempts well. Once on her back, she has a limited ability to get back up. She is vulnerable to ground-and-pound, though this area of concern is partly mitigated by the PFL ban on elbows. Pacheco does have a nice judo hip toss herself and some top control, and she has finished many lesser opponents with guillotine chokes. Her own ground-and-pound does not offer much concern.

INTANGIBLES

• Athleticism/General Physical Strength: A solidly built lightweight, unlike many of her peers at 155 pounds. Many in the division are little more than blown-up bantamweights or featherweights.
• Cardio: Holds up to scrutiny. She was tired but still managed to fight effectively in the fourth and fifth rounds of her upset of Harrison.
• Chin: She has rarely faced big punchers in her career, but when she met Germaine de Randamie in the UFC, she was consistently hurt by the Dutchwoman’s blows before being knocked out.
• Recuperative Powers: Satisfactory.
• Intelligence: Understands her advantages over other fighters and how to exploit them.