Kayla Harrison on elbows in MMA and PFL return at PFL 3

PFL 3 takes place on Thursday, May 6th as the 2021 season continues. This card emanates from Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Professional Fighters League broadcasts on ESPN + and ESPN 2. The heavyweights and the women’s lightweights are the prominently featured fighters in this event. I spoke with 2019 season champion Kayla Harrison who starts her 2021 campaign against Mariana Morais.

I asked Kayla about the different rules she fought under during her brief foray from the promotion during PFL’s 2020 hiatus. We got into utilizing elbows for Invicta FC, PFL’s no elbow aspect, and more!

Kayla Harrison

I was just curious because there was a certain level of visceral beauty to the last fight, just getting to uncork the elbows there (for Invicta FC). That seemed to have a pretty immediate effect there. But you know PFL obviously not allowing the elbows.

I imagine you’re very excited to get back to competing within the PFL framework, but is it a bit of a bummer that the elbows have been shelved for a little bit?

“For sure. It’s kind of one of those things where you don’t know what you’re missing until you’ve had it. Like if you give a kid sugar for the first time in their life and they’re like ‘ahhh’. That’s kind of how I felt when I got to throw my first elbow. I was like ‘oh my god, this is awesome’.”

“And I’m sure a lot of fighters feel like, hopefully, some rule changes can be made. So maybe they’re allowed in the finals or something like that. I understand the reasoning behind not having them. But man, when you’re a top-heavy opponent or fighter like I am, they really change the impact of ground and pound. So I’m gonna miss them. Gonna miss those buggers.”

Dylan Bowker

I've been enamored with combat sports for as long as I can remember. I've hosted MMA talk shows Lights Out and Pure Fight Radio with featured guests like Jens Pulver, Roy Nelson, Miesha Tate, Mark Coleman, and more. I've been an MMA broadcaster for XFFC as well as BTC and have done play by play commentary on live pay per view on GFL as well as FITE TV. I've provided written, audio, and video content covering some of the biggest MMA promotions like Rumble in the Cage, Unified MMA, and King of the Cage. I've worked as a sports entertainment personality for over five years and given play-by-play or featured promotions of KSW, ONE Championship, TKO, and Invicta FC. My work can be found in the USA Today Sports affiliate MMA Torch, Cageside Press, MMA Sucka, and Liberty Multimedia.

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