Two-time Professional Fighters League women’s lightweight tournament winner Kayla Harrison is not “technically” a free agent, the promotion’s CEO told Heavy in a recent interview.
Heavy’s Stephen McCaugherty spoke with Peter Murray about his thoughts on the PFL’s 2021 season, which ended last month with several fighters going home with a $1 million check, including Harrison. Murray graded the season as an “A,” and shared that the promotion has plans to “triple-down” on events for next year, which includes dabbling in PPV and introducing the PFL Challenger Series, which features newer professional fighters competing for a PFL contract.
“Season 2022 is all about providing MMA fans around the world with an extended calendar of differentiated live events,” Murray said.
The PFL’s CEO also said that the PFL plans to sign around three times the number of fighters they have now to compete in 2022. And among those may be “iconic fighters.”
“There are other amazing, iconic fighters who want to come over to the PFL and fight under our banner and do superfights,” Murray said.
Sharing his excitement for putting on the biggest fights he can, the first potential fight that came to Murray’s mind is a super-clash between Harrison and reigning Bellator women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg.
Watch Murray’s full interview below via the YouTube embed and keep reading to see what he had to say about Harrison versus Cyborg.
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Harrison Isn’t a Free Agent Yet, Murray Said
Harrison (12-0) is a two-time judoka Olympic gold medalist and has spent the entirety of her professional MMA career in the PFL.
She earned her second $1 million check from the promotion by submitting Taylor Guardado during the PFL 2021 season finale in October 2021.
Before the fight, Harrison shared that she’d be a free agent after the tournament. But according to Murray, Harrison isn’t “technically” a free agent.
“Kayla’s deals not up with us just yet,” Murray said. “And she’s not into free agency. There’s a lot of conversation, a lot of interest, a lot of chatter. Listen, we’re very proud of what the PFL has accomplished in less than four years. Kayla’s been on that journey with us from day one under Ray Sefo, and obviously, Kayla’s exceptional team at ATT developing Kayla. She’s done the business and it’s been an exciting, exciting journey to watch. And we’re looking forward to a future together.”
When pressed for more information about the state of Harrison’s free agency, Murray said: “On this particular day, at this point in time, she’s not technically a free agent.”
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Murray Is Open to a Cross-Promotion Event & Is ‘Confident’ It’ll Happen, Says Harrison ‘Up’ for Cyborg Fight
PFL/InstagramKayla Harrison & Cris Cyborg
If Harrison is with PFL and Murray wants to put on a fight with Cyborg, then he’ll have to work with Bellator. And he has no issue with that.
“Fans want it, we want it, Kayla Harrison against Cyborg, that’s an amazing fight that, I’m confident we will be able to figure out and make happen,” Murray said. “It’s gonna come down to the two athletes, the two organizations coming together and making it happen.
“We make things happen at the PFL. Kayla has been out there and she is certainly up for that. I believe Cyborg is, so [it’s] something that we’re spending time on and we’d like to see make happen.”
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Kayla Harrison Isn’t A Free Agent, Wants Cris Cyborg Fight: PFL CEO