Marina Mokhnatkina vs Larissa Pacheco Prediction: It's Time for an Upset

On the night of November 25th, the finals of the PFL Grand Prix will take place in the United States. In one of the fights, Russian Marina Mokhnatkina will fight for the belt and one million dollars against the reigning champion, Larissa Pacheco. The fight will take place in the women's flyweight division.

Marina Mokhnatkina is a seven-time unarmed combat world champion and successfully adapted her skills to mixed martial arts. But the most important thing is that she learns from her mistakes. Although she has not yet reached her full potential - there is still much to work on. No one expected such a leap this year from Marina, but she destroyed her opponents and made it to the final. Yoko Higashi (first-round technical knockout), Evelyn Martins (unanimous decision), and Amber Leibrock (first-round elbow takedown) all succumbed to her pressure.

There is no question that Larissa is the favorite and a strong fighter. I scored enough points to be on top, too, and we didn't cross paths. Nevertheless, I still had to fight her, not in the semifinals but in the finals, so I didn't think much about it and didn't get excited. I also consider myself the favorite, and I think that we will meet her in the finals.

Marina Mokhnatkina

Last year, Pacheco finally defeated Kayla Harrison (it was her third attempt) to take home the PFL's top prize. She was a huge underdog going into the fight but pulled it off. The following events proved that Larissa is on top for a reason - three wins already this season, two in the first minute of the fight.

The Brazilian's strength is her standing, and she hits very hard. Her wrestling could be better. Larissa misses takedowns but looks great in boxing, defending very actively.

Marina's chances are only in the parterre. Competing with Pacheco in the standing is pure suicide. But we would like to believe that Mokhnatkina knows exactly what she has to do in the fight with the champion. She went to the last bout as an underdog and against the striker. Pacheco knocked out opponents just like that, but who are all these girls? Mokhnatkina, for example, was very quick against Leibrok, and she would have been quick against Alyona Kolesnik. So, the winner here is still a chance in a thousand. We believe that the odds are equal, and with such crazy numbers, we might only bet on the Russian.