Kayla Harrison's Finals-Securing Performance Tops Key Takeaways From PFL Playoffs 3

In the second of back-to-back shows in the United Kingdom, the Professional Fighters League (PFL) put on another amazing night of fights last Saturday, August 20, which was bannered by another dominant showing from two-time women's lightweight champion Kayla Harrison.

Harrison, who's on track for a historic third-straight championship reign in PFL, needed just under a round to dispose of Czech opponent Martina Jindrova in their women's lightweight semifinals bout and advance to the finals.

The card also saw hometown hero Brendan Loughnane edge out Chris Wade by unanimous decision to prevail in their featherweight semifinals pairing and book a ticket to the million-dollar title bout.

Also moving on to the championship bouts were women's lightweight Larissa Pacheco and featherweight Bubba Jenkins.

With the playoffs in the books and the world championship matchups set, here are significant takeaways from the recently-concluded PFL Playoffs 3.

Kayla Harrison Still Untouchable

After demolishing Martina Jindrova to earn another trip to the finals, Kayla Harrison delivered quite an emphatic message in her post-fight interview, declaring that she was the queen of women's mixed martial arts (MMA) before calling out a certain "three Brazilian" contemporaries.

It's safe to assume that Harrison is talking about UFC two-division queen Amanda Nunes, Bellator featherweight titleholder Cris "Cyborg" Justino and fellow PFL athlete Larissa Pacheco.

Of those three names, however, the first one that Harrison will be facing--or battling again--will be Pacheco, who also returns to the women's lightweight finals.

Pacheco has been a consistent playoff staple, but she has failed to get past Harrison in two previous meetings.

The two will go head-to-head once again, with all indications pointing to yet another victory from Harrison.

If she can capture a third-straight PFL title, it's hard to dispute Harrison's claim of being the sport's top female pound-for-pound fighter.

Being Top Seed Holds No Guarantees

In most other sports, being the No. 1 seed comes with a few advantages such as having the home court or going up against a proven-but-lower-ranked counterpart.

In MMA, especially under the PFL banner, there's really no such thing because of the unpredictability of the sport itself.

In the 2022 PFL playoffs, three out of the six top-seeded fighters, namely Anthony Pettis, Rory MacDonald and Chris Wade, saw themselves getting bounced out of the tournament in the semifinals.

It's a tough break, especially for Wade, who turned in a fantastic regular-season campaign.

However, it just goes to show, again, that anything can happen both in the world of MMA and inside the PFL cage.

European Expansion To Unearth Gems

The playoffs also featured a handful of qualifier bouts for the upcoming 2023 PFL Europe season.

If the duels that avid MMA fans saw over the last three weeks are any indication, the PFL's maiden season in Europe is going to be a must-watch.

Up-and-coming stars like Dakota Ditcheva, Will Fleury, Nathan Kelly, Ali Taleb and Magnus Iversen are just some of the names to watch out for when the league kicks off next year.