Pacheco defeated Kayla Harrison via unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 48-47) at the 2022 PFL Championships on Friday to become the new women's lightweight champion and take home a $1 million prize.
ANALYSIS This was the most shocking upset at the event and arguably one of the bigger ones in MMA in all of 2022, as Pacheco entered as high as a +550 underdog in some sportsbooks. She showed improved takedown defense despite allowing Harrison to land six takedowns, but Pacheco was able to use her grappling ability to stay out of harm's way for the most part. In the end, she did enough in the striking department to earn the favor of all three judges in a fight that could have easily gone either way. Pacheco is still down 2-1 to Harrison in the all-time series, however, and the two will likely meet again in the 2023 regular season and/or playoffs.