Kayla Harrison spent the first 17 fights of her career with the PFL, but her defection to the UFC led to a social media post on Saturday highlighting the only loss she’s ever suffered.
Just before Harrison defeated Ketlen Vieira at UFC 307, the PFL posted a short video detailing her decision loss to Larissa Pacheco back in 2022 while also promoting its upcoming pay-per-view event on Oct. 19 in Saudi Arabia. While UFC CEO Dana White didn’t actually see PFL’s post about Harrison, he didn’t seem all that surprised by the maneuver.
“I think when you’re losing as much money as they are, f*cking go for it,” White said at the UFC 307 post-fight press conference. “F*cking throw the kitchen sink at it.”
The night @lpacchec shocked the world
— PFL (@PFLMMA) October 5, 2024
2x Division PFL World champion Larissa Pacheco returns on October 19th against @criscyborg
[ #PFLSuperFights | #BraceForImpact | Sat, Oct 19th | 4PM ET ] pic.twitter.com/LbA5BA0WKL
White has rarely held his tongue when discussing the PFL but especially when the upstart promotion decides to take aim at the UFC.
Another comment that White jumped on when addressing the PFL was a recent remark from co-founder Donn Davis when he stated that the organization was spending more money on the upcoming PPV headlined by Francis Ngannou than the UFC spent producing the recent UFC 306 card at Sphere in Las Vegas.
White famously documented the high cost to put on a show there with expenditures reaching more than $20 million by the time it was all said and done.
“This guy [Donn Davis] just came out recently and said ‘you know we’re going to spend more money than they did on the Sphere.’ That sounds f*cking brilliant,” White said. “How many tickets are you going to sell? They’re not very bright.”
Of course there’s no doubt that the UFC remains the biggest promotion in all of MMA but White couldn’t help himself when pointing out the financial shortcomings of his competitors.
That’s why he wasn’t all that surprised by the move from PFL on Saturday when it came to taking aim at a former star in Harrison, who now calls the UFC home.
“Listen, it’s all fair,” White said. “They’re drowning. They suck. They’re not good at what they do. I guess you would just keep trying anything you can to make something stick. All good.”
