Larissa Pacheco has a unique perspective on the upcoming women’s bantamweight superfight between current champion Kayla Harrison and former two-division titleholder Amanda Nunes given that she’s had a chance to test herself against both of them.
In fact, Pacheco fought Harrison three times in the PFL promotion, losing by unanimous decision in their first two encounters in 2019, before handing the former two-time Olympic judo gold medalist the first and only loss of her career so far in their trilogy fight in 2022.
That invaluable experience led Nunes to invite Pacheco to train with her as she prepares to make her comeback against Harrison two-and-a-half years after she retired from the sport while still holding the 135lb and 145lb titles.
And having now trained with her Pacheco is convinced that Nunes will emerge victorious on January 24th in Las Vegas.
“What I can say is that if the UFC wants to book this fight next week or next month for Amanda, she’s ready,” Pacheco told MMA Fighting. “She’s ready. In terms of adjustments, everything, there’s nothing more to say.
“I’m not going to talk strategy because I can’t, but she’s ready, man. What I’ve felt from her… I can say this: I’ve felt Kayla’s energy before, and now I’ve felt Amanda’s. She’s ready. That fight is hers, without a doubt. She’s walking out with the win.”
And Pacheco believes that the fact that Harrison is a genuine threat will bring out the best in the fighter who is widely considered to be the GOAT of female MMA.
“She never really lost that throne. Her hunger is to win,” Pacheco said of Nunes. “She didn’t have a real challenge left, one that matched her level. She beat everyone. When she retired, it was at a time when she didn’t have a true challenge anymore. It felt like, ‘I’m doing this just for the money.’ At least that’s how I see it; it’s not something she told me directly.
“But since there’s something personal between them, it adds a different flavor, right? And now Kayla is the champion of the promotion. She said in several interviews that she wanted to be UFC champion, that she wanted to fight Amanda, that she wanted to get there, and now she’s there. Didn’t she want this to happen so badly? Didn’t she ask for it so much? This is the moment.”
“I don’t think there’s a better time for Amanda to come back than now, than this,” she continued. “And to do it in this way, showing not only who she is — that she doesn’t have to prove anything to anyone —, but doing it against someone who truly is a challenge worthy of her.”
