PFL have welcomed a pay-per-view super fight between two-time women's lightweight champion Kayla Harrison and MMA icon Cris Cyborg.
Harrison, 32, is currently looking to become a three-time PFL champion as she faces Larrisa Pacheco for the third time at PFL 9 in London on August 20. The two-time Olympic gold medalist in judo has been heavily linked to fight Cyborg, 37, who currently holds the Bellator featherweight title and has also previously held the same belt in the UFC.
Before she resigned with the PFL in March, Harrison was backed to fight Cyborg but she opted to compete in her third and likely final season for the PFL instead. The promotion's founder, Donn Davis, has now teased a super fight between the pair whilst offering each fighter a guaranteed $1million purse plus a $2million bonus for the winner.
"Fans want the fight," Davis tweeted. "Fighters want the fight. I have watched and listened, PFL will provide all money and handle all matters. Kayla Harrison vs Cris Cyborg. $1M each fighter and $2M winner bonus. Pay-per-view super fight, no more talk, decide the best inside the cage".
Harrison and Cyborg went back and forth after Davis' tweet, with the Bellator champion writing: "She gets an equal fight purse based on what? Being your champion? Beating a fighter who’s 12-13? All the PPVs she sold?" Harrison challenged her rival to a "winner takes all" fight by replying: "Come take the money and find out. Winner can take all".
Do you want to see Kayla Harrison vs Cris Cyborg? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below
Harrison only made her MMA debut four years ago but has since amassed an impressive record of 14-0, recently stopping Kaitlyn Young in the first round at PFL 6. Cyborg is vastly more experienced than her rival having turned professional in 2005, since winning titles in Strikeforce, Invicta FC, UFC and Bellator.
In a further push for the fight, Harrison said on The MMA Hour: “If she needs help getting the deal signed, I will call [PFL bosses] Peter Murray and Donn Davis and ask them, whatever price she wants, I will speak to them on her behalf and I’ll go through a full [USADA] drug testing. I will be drug tested every day from now until the fight if she’s worried about that, and she doesn’t have to be drug tested at all. The only thing I ask is that they allow elbows, so I can put one through her skull.”
