After shocking stumble, where does Harrison land in MMA pound-for-pound rankings?
Kayla Harrison‘s loss to Larissa Pacheco at the 2022 PFL Championships last Friday was a stunner. It was her first career defeat, and it came against a fighter she had beaten twice before — and against whom she was an 8-1 betting favorite.
Aside from sending shockwaves through the PFL and women’s MMA in general, the result also shined a light on how much of an enigma Harrison has been during her MMA career.
She won her first 15 fights in dominant performances, making great use of the judo skills that had won her two Olympic gold medals. She quickly became the biggest star in the PFL. But Harrison was aiming higher than that. “I am the queen of women’s MMA!” Harrison proclaimed on more than one occasion.
The ESPN panel that votes on our pound-for-pound rankings didn’t go quite that far, but Harrison did find her way into our women’s top 10.
Why not at the very top, a place more befitting a queen?
Because it was tough to gauge just how good Harrison was, considering her level of competition in the PFL. Most of the other fighters in our men’s and women’s top 10s were constantly being tested at an elite level in UFC fights, or had established their legitimacy in other high-level contests.
Much of our pound-for-pound panel, like observers across the sport, were waiting for Harrison to prove herself more conclusively to be the queen she claimed to be.
Then she lost to Pacheco, and the implications of that stunning result are being felt in our latest women’s top 10.
How divided was our panel on Harrison? Prior to the Pacheco fight, she was in the top 10 of all six of our voters; one had her as high as No. 4. But in the wake of Friday’s loss, Harrison appears on only two ballots. That’s not to say the others are disregarding her, just that they considered at least 10 other fighters to be better than her. However, Harrison ranked highly enough on those two ballots where she did appear, that she retains a spot in our top 10, just one spot lower than before.
But now comes the test MMA fans have been waiting for. Does Kayla Harrison have it in her to rise from the ashes of defeat? In MMA, losing is not the end of the world. But some fighters respond better than others. Those who overcome their first career stumble have the opportunity to establish themselves as MMA royalty.
For the ESPN divisional MMA rankings, click here.
Note: Results are current; rankings as of Nov. 30.
1. Amanda Nunes 
UFC bantamweight and featherweight champion
Record: 22-5
Last: W (UD) Julianna Peña, July 30
Next: TBD
UFC flyweight champion
Record: 22-3
Last: W (SD) Taila Santos, June 11
Next: TBD
3. Zhang Weili
UFC strawweight champion
Record: 23-3
Last: W (Sub2) Carla Esparza, Nov. 12, 2022
Next: TBD
4. Cris Cyborg
Bellator featherweight champion
Record: 26-2, 1 NC
Last: W (UD) Arlene Blencowe, April 23
Next: TBD
UFC bantamweight
Record: 11-5
Last: L (UD) Amanda Nunes, July 30
Next: TBD
UFC strawweight
Record: 11-5
Last: L (SD) Carla Esparza, May 7
Next: TBD
UFC strawweight
Record: 19-7
Last: L (Sub2) Zhang Weili, Nov. 12, 2022
Next: TBD
UFC flyweight
Previous ranking: 9
Record: 23-9
Last: W (Sub1) Amanda Lemos, April 23
Next: Jan. 21 vs. Lauren Murphy
PFL lightweight
Previous ranking: 8
Record: 15-1
Last: L (UD) Larissa Pacheco, Nov. 25, 2022
Next: TBD
10. Amanda Lemos 
UFC strawweight
Previous ranking: Unranked
Record: 13-2-1
Last: W (TKO3) Marina Rodriguez, Nov. 5, 2022
Next: TBD
Other fighters receiving votes: Larissa Pacheco, Ketlen Vieira, Manon Fiorot and Seika Izawa.
Brett Okamoto: 1. Amanda Nunes; 2. Valentina Shevchenko; 3. Zhang Weili; 4. Cris Cyborg; 5. Rose Namajunas; 6. Julianna Peña; 7. Kayla Harrison; 8. Jessica Andrade; 9. Larissa Pacheco; 10. Carla Esparza.
Marc Raimondi: 1. Nunes; 2. Shevchenko; 3. Cyborg; 4. Zhang; 5. Peña; 6. Namajunas; 7. Esparza; 8. Andrade; 9. Amanda Lemos; 10. Seika Izawa.
Carlos Contreras Legaspi: 1. Nunes; 2. Shevchenko; 3. Zhang; 4. Cyborg; 5. Peña; 6. Harrison; 7. Esparza; 8. Pacheco; 9. Namajunas; 10. Andrade.
Megan Anderson: 1. Nunes; 2. Shevchenko; 3. Zhang; 4. Cyborg; 5. Namajunas; 6. Esparza; 7. Andrade; 8. Ketlen Vieira; 9. Lemos; 10. Peña.
Eddie Maisonet III: 1. Nunes; 2. Shevchenko; 3. Zhang; 4. Peña; 5. Cyborg; 6. Esparza; 7. Andrade; 8. Namajunas; 9. Lemos; 10. Pacheco.
Jeff Wagenheim: 1. Nunes; 2. Shevchenko; 3. Zhang; 4. Cyborg; 5. Andrade; 6. Peña; 7. Esparza; 8. Namajunas; 9. Fiorot; 10. Lemos.
UFC featherweight champion
Record: 25-1
Last: W (UD) Max Holloway, July 2, 2022
Next: Feb. 11 vs. Islam Makhachev
UFC lightweight champion
Record: 23-1
Last: W (Sub2) Charles Oliveira, Oct. 22, 2022
Next:Feb. 11 vs. Alexander Volkanovski
3. Kamaru Usman
UFC welterweight
Record: 20-2
Last: L (KO5) Leon Edwards, Aug. 20
Next: TBD
T-4. Israel Adesanya
UFC middleweight
Record: 23-2
Last: L (TKO5) Alex Pereira, Nov. 12, 2022
Next: TBD
T-4. Francis Ngannou
UFC heavyweight champion
Record: 17-3
Last: W (UD) Ciryl Gane, Jan. 22
Next: TBD
UFC lightweight
Record: 33-9, 1 NC
Last: L (Sub2) Islam Makhachev, Oct. 22, 2022
Next: TBD
7. Leon Edwards
UFC welterweight champion
Record: 20-3, 1 NC
Last: W (KO5) Kamaru Usman, Aug. 20
Next: TBD
UFC bantamweight champion
Record: 22-3
Last: W (TKO2) TJ Dillashaw, Oct. 22, 2022
Next: TBD
UFC light heavyweight
Record: 29-3-1
Last: W (Sub5) Glover Teixeira, June 11
Next: TBD
10. Robert Whittaker
UFC middleweight
Record: 24-6
Last: W (UD) Marvin Vettori, Sept. 3, 2022
Next: Feb. 12 vs. Paulo Costa
Other fighters receiving votes: Deiveson Figueiredo, Alex Pereira, Dustin Poirier, Ciryl Gane and Brandon Moreno.
Brett Okamoto: 1. Alexander Volkanovski; 2. Islam Makhachev; 3. Israel Adesanya; 4. Kamaru Usman; 5. Robert Whittaker; 6. Charles Oliveira; 7. Aljamain Sterling; 8. Francis Ngannou; 9. Deiveson Figueiredo; 10. Brandon Moreno.
Marc Raimondi: 1. Volkanovski; 2. Makhachev; 3. Usman; 4. Oliveira; 5. Ngannou; 6. Adesanya; 7. Sterling; 8. Edwards; 9. Alex Pereira; 10. Ciryl Gane.
Carlos Contreras Legaspi: 1. Volkanovski; 2. Makhachev; 3. Usman; 4. Ngannou; 5. Oliveira; 6. Adesanya; 7. Edwards; 8. Jiri Prochazka; 9. Sterling; 10. Pereira.
Megan Anderson: 1. Volkanovski; 2. Makhachev; 3. Adesanya; 4. Usman; 5. Oliveira; 6. Ngannou; 7. Edwards; 8. Prochazka; 9. Whittaker; 10. Figueiredo.
Eddie Maisonet III: 1. Volkanovski; 2. Makhachev; 3. Ngannou; 4. Adesanya; 5. Usman; 6. Oliveira; 7. Dustin Poirier; 8. Figueiredo; 9. Sterling; 10. Prochazka.
Jeff Wagenheim: 1. Volkanovski; 2. Ngannou; 3. Makhachev; 4. Usman; 5. Oliveira; 6. Adesanya; 7. Edwards; 8. Pereira; 9. Prochazka; 10. Sterling.