PFL’s Donn Davis: Comments about Kayla Harrison were ‘taken completely out of context’ but admits ‘I probably shouldn’t have said anything’

PFL Chairman Donn Davis believes the recent bitterness with Kayla Harrison is just a misunderstanding.

Harrison, a two-time Olympic judoka champion, began her MMA career in the PFL, fighting for promotion for five years, winning two lightweight tournaments and becoming the face of the organization. But earlier this year, Harrison finally gave up her long-standing promotion and moved to the UFC.

Earlier this month, Harrison made her second appearance in her new promotion when she fought Ketlen Vieira at UFC 307, but before her fight, Davis made headlines by saying that he didn’t like that Harrison was “ahead of potential fights with Cris Cyborg.” ran away.” Larissa Pacheco. Harrison was offended, of course, and even Pacheco wasn’t happy with Davis’ comments. But the PFL chairman says the whole thing is a big misunderstanding.

“What I said had great respect and tremendous context, but when it was cut on social media, it was taken completely out of context,” Davis told MMA Fighting. “So I’ll try to put it in context again, but I’m sure it’ll be taken out of context again.

“To repeat: I only said three things. Firstly, we are immensely proud that we developed it from the ground up. She was one of my favorite fighters and I think she is one of the greatest fighters of all time in the women’s divisions. First of all, Dana never says that.

“Secondly, we made her an offer to be paid extremely well, to spend her entire career here and do anything she wanted. I have a lot of respect and basically offered her a blank check and a blank ticket, not just economically but professionally as well. Dana never says that. That’s because we wanted them.

“And thirdly, we gave her bigger fights here than in the UFC. Cyborg, bigger fight. Pacheco, bigger fight. They’re bigger than the two fights she just had. Nobody would contradict that. So why is she in the UFC? That’s what I said.

“So those are the three things I said. It’s all respectful, factual and pretty straightforward. So why did she go to the UFC? I don’t know. I don’t understand. I think there has to be a brand that validates it, and our brand isn’t that big yet. So that’s it. But nothing but very no-nonsense respect and a very no-nonsense wish that I wish on behalf of the fans that we could have delivered the greatest fight in the world.”

For her part, Harrison has been very clear about why she wanted to come to the UFC, stating that she wants to win the title and cement her legacy in MMA. But Davis clearly believes Harrison could have done this in the PFL.

“Now that Cyborg has significantly solidified her position as the GOAT, everyone wants to see Kayla vs. Cyborg,” Davis said. “It’s a bigger fight than Kayla will ever have unless Nunes comes out of retirement, and the person who stopped that is Kayla.

“I’m not making any money from this fight, but I wanted to show it to the fans. I’ve been trying for five years and haven’t been able to get Cyborg here. Then I bought the whole company to bring Cyborg here, and then Kayla leaves! So I don’t understand it and that’s all I’ve expressed.”

Ultimately, however, Davis is aware that his comments were received very differently, no matter how they intended to sound. And while Davis doesn’t believe he said anything inappropriate, he also admits that if he could go back, he probably wouldn’t have said anything at all.

“The way I talked about it is nowhere near the way Dana White talks about fighters. That’s not remotely how he talked about Francis… And secondly, I probably shouldn’t have said anything, but I tried to explain the situation. If I had to do it again, it would be my mistake. Nothing good came of it.

“I have no desire to do anything negative to Kayla. I don’t want a bunch of clickbait that negatively impacts the PFL. So it’s my fault for saying anything and trying to put this into context. My only goal was really to give the fans the greatest fight in women’s history, Cyborg vs. Kayla. Like Ahab for the great white whale, I have spent so much energy pursuing this fight that it will kill me if it slips through my fingers. It’s killing me.”