While the first season of the Professional Fighters League (PFL) is starting to wind down, it hasn?t stopped promotion officials from starting to focus on season two.
A pair of huge moves the PFL is making for season two is the re-signing of Kayla Harrison, plus the addition of a women?s lightweight division, with the season winner getting $1 million.
"We're super excited to continue working with Kayla," said PFL president Carlos Silva to Brett Okamoto of ESPN. "We're going to go ahead and add a seventh weight division to our format. It's going to operate the same as the men's divisions have in 2018. We thought it was a smart weight for some of these women to compete at."
Outside of Harrison, no other fighters have been announced for the newly minted weight class.
One thing Harrison believed was that PFL officials wanted her to move down a weight class, but she said they approached with a different idea in mind.
"PFL has believed in me from Day 1," Harrison said. "They're doing amazing things with the sport. They're creating the first 155-pound female weight class in MMA, and establishing that female fighters will have the same opportunities at winning prize money as male fighters. I had always assumed they would want me to go down in weight, but the owners actually approached me and said, 'Listen, we want you healthy and strong.? I think there are girls out there who want to fight, and this sends a positive message to young girls all over the world. I don't believe in cutting weight. There's no reason for it."
Harrison already holds two victories as a professional MMA fighter, having defeated the duo of Jozette Cotton and Brittney Elkin.