Fight Facts: PFL 2022 Regular Season 6

Fight Facts is a breakdown of all of the interesting information and cage curiosities on every card, with some puns, references and portmanteaus to keep things fun. These deep stat dives delve into the numbers, providing historical context and telling the stories behind those numbers.

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TOTAL NUMBER OF PFL FIGHTS: 778
TOTAL NUMBER OF PFL EVENTS: 83

The 2022 Professional Fighters League Regular Season is now in the books. A whole 61 fights completed the six-event qualifiers that did not see 10 fights in every weight class for tourney purposes. Twenty four fighters are now looking ahead towards million-dollar checks. PFL 6: 2022 Regular Season featured a foregone conclusion in the main event, the beginning of a new era at 170 pounds and a mid-card scratch from…the announcer?

O’Connell is PFL’s Best Investment: At the conclusion of the prelims, announcer Lilian Garcia’s voice went out, and she was forced to withdraw from calling the remainder of the matches on the card. As a result, Garcia only called 55 of the 61 bouts this regular season, with former light heavyweight champion, current play-by-play announcer and all-around talent Sean O'Connell taking over those duties for the night.

A Millionaire in Eight Rounds or Less: Kayla Harrison blew through Kaitlin Young in just over half a round to record the first-round knockout. Now 14-0 as a pro with 11 finishes, Harrison claimed the second seed at women’s lightweight and will meet Martina Jindrova at the end of August.

Not These Slides Again: Harrison further pads her litany of records across all World Series of Fighting-PFL women’s divisions with her victory. She remains the winningest woman in company history, with 13 triumphs coming under its banner.

Easiest Check to Cash in the Sport: The two-time Olympic gold medalist broke a tie from earlier that night, as two welterweight each picked their 12th respective wins on the fight card. The 13 wins for Harrison places her alone in second place for the most under the organization’s banner, trailing Lance Palmer (16).

Harrison vs. a Men’s Lightweight, Make It Happen: While she holds the women’s records for practically every category including most finishes (10), most knockouts (five), most appearances (13), most championship wins (three) and more, she has tied a record regardless of gender for the most stoppages in company history.

No Time to Waste: Of Harrison’s 10 finishes, eight have taken place in the opening round. She further puts distance between the next closest fighter, Vinny Magalhaes, who holds six and is no longer on the PFL roster.

Actively Discourages Betting: Taking on late replacement Young, Harrison closed as a massive -3500 betting favorite. This is not the highest she has been favored, as she was -5000 against Bobbi Jo Dalziel in 2019. However, Harrison has clocked in as a favorite above -3000 five times in PFL, and she has won decisively every time.

Excellent Scorecards: After three grueling rounds, Sadibou Sy emerged victorious over Rory MacDonald by decision. Sy picked up three points for a total of six to earn a spot in the playoffs, and this two-fight win streak marks the first time he has ever seen consecutive results of win/lose/draw/no contest in his four-year tenure with the promotion.

He Says He Wasn’t Mad: Immediately after learning he was no longer eligible for the playoffs, Ray Cooper III went out and destroyed Brett Cooper in 24 seconds with knees and punches. The stoppage for “Bradda Boy” clocked in as the eighth fastest in organizational history, one of two spots he now holds in that top 10.

Chasing Gaethje: The finish for Cooper was his 10th, setting a record that was tied by Harrison two fights later. Eight of those have come by knockout, putting him one shy of Justin Gaethje’s all-time WSOF-PFL record.

MMK Strikes Back: Throughout his lengthy career that began in 2008, Magomed Magomedkerimov has suffered defeat six times. After every single setback, “MMK” has rebounded to finish his next foe, now including a second-round drubbing of Dilano Taylor at PFL 6.

Flew the Coop: Barring an injury replacement where he or Cooper III need to step in, this welterweight bracket will not feature either Magomedkerimov or Cooper III for the first time since the PFL began its tournaments. One of those two has won the 170-pound championship every year since its inception.

A Point Capturer, Not Point Fighter: Shortly after the midpoint of Round 1, Larissa Pacheco put Genah Fabian away to claim the top seed at women’s lightweight. Pacheco is the only fighter this season to earn the maximum of 12 points with two first-round stoppages.

She Missed Weight in 2021 to Lose Out: Throughout the entirety of the PFL’s tournament system, only eight competitors have ever scored 12 points for two wins in the opening round. Pacheco has now done so twice, and she is only one to ever hit the 12-point cap multiple times, achieving this feat first in 2021.

See You Soon, Kayla: Of her 17 pro wins, the Brazilian has recorded 16 of those by stoppage following her beating of Fabian. She possesses an equal distribution of knockouts to submissions, with her last four victories coming by first-round knockout.

What Is That International Flag Thing: Decimating Jarrah Al-Silawi with one punch and sliding into the playoffs as the fourth seed, Magomed Umalatov lifted his spotless record to 12-0. Eleven of those for the Russian have come by stoppage, with 10 due to strikes.

Czech Off the Box: Martina Jindrova, signed from the third Challenger Series episode, pounded out Zamzagul Fayzallanova to claim the No. 3 seed in her weight class. The Czech fighter is the lone Challenger Series product to step in the cage twice this season and pick up wins to reach the playoffs. Of note, Carlos Leal Miranda did earn six points, but his second win came due to a walkover in which he did not have to compete.

Empowered by Her People: A 15-minute effort against Vanessa Melo allowed Helena Kolesnyk to pick up the decision win and claim the bottom seed in her bracket. The lone two decision victories of the Ukrainian’s career have come in this tournament, with her past five wins stoppages within two rounds.

Not Many Thrilling Ones There: Win or lose, Melo has now gone the distance in her last 13 fights. This encompasses her entire time with PFL as well as the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and several fights before then.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into PFL 6: 2022 Regular Season, no WSOF-PFL competitor had ever strung together a 13-fight win streak (Harrison), no fighter had ever notched multiple sub-30 second knockouts with the company (Cooper III) and Fayzallanova had never dropped consecutive bouts (nine fights).