Cris Cyborg shared that Kayla Harrison “declined” the offer of PFL for them to enter the cage. According to the Bellator champ, the promotion already suggested the date and location of the fight, only for the PFL icon to turn it down.
The claim opposes Harrison’s statements in the past where Cyborg was the one being portrayed as the fighter avoiding the fight. In November last year, the PFL female fighter indirectly called out Cyborg and recalled how the Cyborg champ used to “talk sh*it” about her but quickly fell silent after PFL purchased Bellator.
“She only talks sh*t when we’re in different promotions and there’s somewhere to hide,” Harrison said that month. “Now that we’re under the same roof, I feel she’s going to get real quiet real fast.
“I don’t even want to talk about her because I feel like every time I do, it’s just like jinxing it. We’ve been talking about this fight since before I made my MMA debut. I’m 17 fights in now. So, if it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen soon, but I don’t have much faith in her. Easy fight.”
Cyborg, however, negated the claims in her recent post on social media, saying the PFL offered both parties the details of their fight, but Harrison turned it down.
“I am disappointed to hear that after @PeteMurrayPFL offered me the date and location for a fight against @KaylaH, and after we accepted the bout, that she has now declined the offer,” Cyborg posted on her account.
It is unknown when the details were offered, but it is the opposite of what PFL founder Donn Davis announced, saying the promotion would prioritize Larissa Pacheco over Harrison. According to the executive, given Pacheco’s recent victory at the 2023 PFL Championship that made her the first-ever two-weight champion of PFL, the company would have to put her first in line to fight Cyborg. As Davis noted, PFL would first arrange the champ vs. champ bout before giving Cyborg to Harrison.
“It’s champ versus champ,” Davis said explained. “Larissa’s earned that but then will Cris fight Kayla in 2024? One hundred percent, that is going to happen. Cris will have two fights in 2024. Kayla will have two fights in 2024. One of those will be Cris against Kayla, but we think that Larissa’s earned that.”