Scouting Report: Larissa Pacheco
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Larissa
Pacheco
Born: September 7, 1994 (Age: 28) in Belem,
Brazil
Division: Women’s Lightweight
Height: 5’6”
Reach: 69”
Record: 18-4 (7-2 PFL)
Association: Joao Bastos
Team
Stage of Career: Prime
Summary: Pacheco has shown major improvement each
season in the
Professional Fighters League and is now easily the best striker
in the women’s lightweight division. Her punches are crisp,
technical, accurate and powerful, with a strong jab setting up
either the left hook or right cross, both of which have legitimate
knockout power and represent her two best weapons. Making it harder
to avoid, Pacheco is constantly throwing combinations and can
attack from range with solid kicks. While her grappling is good
enough to beat weaker opponents, with an effective judo hip toss
and a solid guillotine, it is actually a liability against elite
grapplers. She has been taken down plenty of times, struggles to
get up and can be vulnerable to ground-and-pound, even to the point
of a stoppage. However, this is mitigated in the PFL by the
promotion banning elbows to a downed opponent. Her cardio is only
average, so the deadliness of her striking may be confined to the
first stanza.
STRIKING
• Stance: Orthodox.
• Hand Speed: Slightly above average.
• Jab: A little telegraphed but straight and
powerful.
• Cross: Straight, technical and slightly faster
than her other punches. Though it is predictable at times, it is a
powerful shot and has knocked out multiple opponents.
• Left Hook: Accurate, with solid arc and
rotation, and powerful, having hurt or stopped a number of
adversaries.
• Overhand Right: Practically never throws it.
• Uppercuts: Hardly ever throws them.
• Solitary Striker or Volume Puncher: Throws
punches in bunches constantly.
• Favorite Combinations: The one-two.
• Leg Kicks: Technical and accurate but lacks some
power.
• Body Kicks: Carries the same properties as her
leg kicks, whether it is a roundhouse or front kick to the
midsection.
• Head Kicks: Offers some power but too lumbering
and telegraphed.
• Chains Kicks to Punches: No.
Pacheco has developed into an excellent striker, showing
considerable improvement in each of her PFL seasons. Her punches
have gotten faster and more accurate, technical and powerful. She
throws a solid jab, which sets up her dangerous right cross and
left hook. Her two best strikes have hurt, floored and knocked out
many opponents. Pacheco loves to throw punches in bunches and has a
number of combinations, though she favors the classic one-two. Her
kicks are decent and technical but lack some power. At 155 pounds,
she is easily one of the best strikers in the world.
CLINCH
• Physical Strength: Adequate. •
Technique: Average. • Knees:
Rarely throws them, but they lack power when she does. She often
chooses to grapple instead.
• Elbows: Does not throw them at all in the
clinch.
• Defense Against Knees/Elbows: Passable.
Pacheco can potentially be exploited in the clinch. Macy
Chiasson threw her from the position to secure a takedown,
though Pacheco is likely much improved now. However, most fighters
are unable to do so. With that said, the clinch is not an area of
strength for Pacheco, as shown in her two previous bouts with
Harrison.
GRAPPLING
• Wrestling from a Shot: Rarely pursues this
avenue.
• Wrestling in the Clinch: Features a judo hip
toss she used to get Chiasson, Karol Rosa
and Sarah
Kaufman down. It is easily the best part of her grappling game.
While she caught Kaufman’s kick, waist locked her to the ground and
outside tripped her in the clinch, Pacheco had a large size
advantage.
• Takedown Defense: Subpar. She was lifted and
slammed by Chiasson when she used overhooks against the cage and
had her legs close together. Rosa hit her with an outside trip, and
Pacheco was obviously taken down at will by Harrison.
• Ability to Return to Feet: Poor, as most times,
she simply locks up the opponent in a closed full guard.
• Submissions: Wields an effective guillotine
choke, though it does not work against better opponents, and an
armbar from her back, which likely only serves her against those
with virtually no Brazilian jiu-jitsu background.
• Defense/Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from the Bottom:
Slightly below average. She does not control the biceps well and
benefits from the PFL not allowing elbows on the ground. Otherwise,
Harrison likely would have finished her twice. Pacheco throws up
many submissions from the bottom, although most of them are not
particularly dangerous. She can regain guard when mounted.
• Top Control: Cognizant of the importance of the
position and not going for phantom submissions.
• Ground-and-Pound: She can finish efficiently
when she progresses to full mount and creates separation against a
dazed opponent, as she hammers away with right hands. In actual
guard against someone who is not yet compromised, her efforts are
basic and lack damaging qualities, consisting instead of arm
punches at an average rate of fire.
While Pacheco can outwrestle and even submit opponents with weak
grappling credentials, her own deficiencies become a liability
against better grapplers. She can be taken down—and not necessarily
by elite wrestlers. Once on her back, she is quite vulnerable to
ground-and-pound, though this is partly mitigated in PFL’s ban on
elbows on the mat. She does have an effective judo hip toss in her
arsenal and some top control, and she has finished many lesser
opponents with a guillotine choke. Pacheco’s own ground-and-pound
leaves a lot to be desired.
INTANGIBLES
• Athleticism/General Physical Strength: A solidly
built lightweight, as opposed to others in the division who are
blown-up bantamweights or featherweights.
• Cardio: While adequate, she has looked at least
mildly winded in later rounds, event against much smaller
opposition like Kaufman.
• Chin: She has rarely faced big punchers, but
when she was confronted by Germaine
de Randamie, she was consistently hurt by her blows before
being knocked out.
• Recuperative Powers: Satisfactory.
• Intelligence: She understands her advantages
over other fighters and how to exploit them.
