Larissa Pacheco's Road Less Traveled

Larissa Pacheco’s story is one of triumph through persistence – she is best known, of course, for toppling the seemingly unbeatable Kayla Harrison in 2022 after having come up short in her first two attempts – but her history of overcoming adversity goes back much further.

As she prepares to face Cristiane “Cris Cyborg” Justino in the co-main event of PFL Super Fights: Battle of the Giants "Prepare for Impact" on Saturday in Riyadh, the two-time Professional Fighters League champ has spoken openly about the challenges she has faced along the way, from her impoverished upbringing to the injury that derailed her Ultimate Fighting Championship run when she was barely out of her teens. Among the revelations was the fact that as a youngster, she did not idolize “Cyborg” or even know much about the Brazilian MMA icon, for a simple reason: She grew up in a home without a television set.

Those same limitations carried over to when she became interested in combat sports. Despite coming from the northern Brazilian state of Para, whose capital, Belem, has exported MMA stars such as Iuri Alcantara, Lyoto Machida, or Deiveson Figueiredo to the world, Pacheco was barely aware of what was going on there. In fact, her initial combat sports training came through a government social project intended to bring opportunities to underprivileged youth.

“I ended up not being influenced so much by the fighters from Belem,” the 30-year-old said. “I’m from Marituba. It's a city nearby. They were mainly in Belem. I knew them by name. I still only know Lyoto through social media. I ended up having contact with Deiveson and Iuri after I got into the UFC. In fact, fighting was an opportunity that came to me at a social project to which I still belong. My master, Joao Bastos, was the person who actually influenced me to fight, to train and to go as far as I have. He was the guy who taught me everything. He showed me – here is a path that can go well in your life. It's a job opportunity too. Things were changing. He had this vision even before women’s MMA blew up. The social project is known as JB Jiu-Jitsu. We started at a cultural house where he taught, which was a project linked to the government. After a new mayor was elected, the project was shut down. He reopened it in the back of his house, put down a tatami and hung up a punching bag. It became our social project. It’s his project, but I call it ours because at the time I was the only athlete. It’s located in my hometown, Marituba.”

Pacheco took to Bastos’ training quickly, and made her way to the UFC, debuting just a week past her 20th birthday as the youngest fighter in the organization. That stint lasted just two fights – both of them losses to future UFC champs in Jessica Andrade and Germaine de Randamie – and was followed by a three-year layoff. “I broke my arm in the UFC [against de Randamie],” Pacheco explained. “There was a third fight in my contract, but it didn’t happen. There may have been a conflict. Maybe I didn't have a manager who fought hard enough on my behalf. It could have been that. I ended up switching over to [manager] Alex Davis afterward. I spent three years with a broken arm after I fought Germaine. I hit her with a jab and broke my arm in the fight. [Note: The fight video shows that it may have been a kick that broke Pacheco’s left arm.] My arm didn't recover until I found treatment in Rio de Janeiro, which allowed me to fight again. I didn't have much hope of ever coming back.”

Since returning from that injury, Pacheco has gone 11-2 with the only setbacks coming in her first two meetings with Harrison. Now on an eight-fight win streak with two PFL titles and the cachet of one of the top pound-for-pound women in MMA, she is headed for the biggest fight, on the biggest stage of her career. She remains most comfortable preparing with a small, tightly knit team, but has made the move to the Las Vegas area for the Cyborg fight. True to form for a fighter who has taken the road less traveled at almost every step of her career, she trained for a world title fight in a non-MMA gym.

“I got ready at Alex Davis' gym [in Henderson, Nevada],” she said. “It’s not a place with MMA classes. It opened up for my camp with my master, Joao Bastos. Wherever I go, he’s always by my side. It was my master who discovered me and taught me everything. It doesn't matter where I go in the world, I bring him with me. And he's the one who plans out my camps. I ended up doing this camp with Daniel “Miojo” Lacerda who is a UFC vet. Matheus Camilo was also a big help. They live in Las Vegas. And I ended up moving there recently. All of our training had to move there as well. At first, it was a little difficult because I needed to find people to train with me. I don't know how to train collectively, especially when there's an important fight. I can't train collectively. We also had a partnership and help from master “Chicao” Bueno who gave us several jiu-jitsu pointers. He shared his experience to us. He has a training method that’s very similar to Joao's. It goes very well with my game. My team is small. Our training is very restricted, but it's very well put together. It's not for nothing that I have 10 consecutive wins. It works. I’m still working with Miojo. I'm already here in Saudi Arabia.”

Outside of her fight career, Pacheco remains a woman with simple tastes, who enjoys her downtime – when she can get it. “It’s not possible to stop being an athlete when you have four fights booked in a year. Outside of training, I enjoy being home with friends. I love churrasco [Brazilian barbecue]. I love private get-togethers where I can chat and have a beer. I love drinking beer when I have free time. I also enjoy video games and playing volleyball. I like to do things like that with the people I love, with my friends, with my family. I'm very comfortable being at home. You can't be an athlete and party all the time. Not that I don't like it. I like it. But we must make certain sacrifices. I have a career plan that requires this sacrifice at this moment. Everything has its time.”