2023 PFL 2 predictions: Three unanimous picks to open women’s featherweight, heavyweight
Pacheco | Cappelozza | Kolesnyk | Ferreira | |
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George Garcia |
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Matt Erickson |
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Simon Samano |
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Nolan King |
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Matthew Wells |
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Abbey Subhan |
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Brian Garcia  2017 Champion |
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Ken Hathaway 2018, 2022 Champion |
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Mike Bohn 2014 Champion |
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Farah Hannoun |
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Danny Segura |
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The PFL stays in Las Vegas this week with the start of the women’s featherweight and heavyweight regular seasons.
PFL 2023, Week 2 takes place Friday at The Theater at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas. The main card airs on ESPN2 following prelims on ESPN+.
(Click here to open a PDF of the staff picks grid in a separate window.)
In the main event, 2022 women’s featherweight season winner Larissa Pacheco (19-4), who upset two-time champion Kayla Harrison in November, takes on former Bellator women’s featherweight champ Julia Budd (16-5). Pacheco is a heavy 7-1 favorite at the betting window. Not surprisingly, then, our 11 editors, writers, radio hosts and videographers have Pacheco as one of our three unanimous picks on the main card.
In the co-feature, 2021 heavyweight season winner Bruno Cappelozza (15-6) meets Matheus Scheffel (17-9) in a rematch. Scheffel outworked Cappelozza for a unanimous decision in the 2022 regular season. Cappelozza is a 2-1 favorite and the second unanimous pick at 11-0.
Also on the main card, Aspen Ladd (10-3), a high-profile signing from the UFC, gets her first PFL regular season fight when she takes on Olena Kolesnyk (7-5). Ladd is a -450 favorite and our third unanimous pick.
And to open the main card, Renan Ferreira (9-3) meets Rizvan Kuniev (12-2-1) at heavyweight, and it’s our lone contentious fight from a picks standpoint. Kuniev is a slight favorite at -175, but it’s Ferreira with the slimmest possible edge in the picks at 6-5.
In the MMA Junkie consensus picks, Pacheco (76 percent), Cappelozza (77 percent), Ladd (85 percent) and Ferreira (51 percent) are the choices.
Check out all the picks above.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for PFL 2023, Week 2.
