Leah McCourt has made no secret of her ideal path to championship glory, and the PFL’s Head of Fighter Operations Dan Hardy said that she could potentially be one step away from getting her wish.
McCourt takes on undefeated Australian contender Sara Collins in a three-round featherweight main event at Bellator Champions Series: London on Saturday night at the OVO Arena, Wembley, with the winner set to be installed as the number-one contender in the women’s featherweight division.
McCourt said she wants to pick up the victory on Saturday night, then move on to challenge the winner of the upcoming women’s featherweight superfight championship bout between women’s MMA icon and longtime Bellator champion Cris Cyborg, and former PFL champion Larissa Pacheco.
Chatting to me during fight week in London, Hardy concurred that a bout with the winner of that superfight appears to make the most sense given the current landscape of the division.
“I mean, it makes sense to me,” he agreed.
“But that’s a question really more for Mike Kogan and how he’s lining up these Bellator contenders, but it makes sense to me, absolutely.”
McCourt stated that her ideal preference if she wins this weekend would be to fight Cyborg, and Hardy admitted that it was easy to see why, but he warned that a constantly improving Pacheco might just spoil the party and throw McCourt’s hopes of a dream matchup with the all-time great into disarray.
“I know Leah’s been wanting that fight for a long time,” he said.
“And I think the reality is we might see Larissa Pacheco just look incredibly dominant, and then she’s the person to beat. And that changes everything entirely. But, for me, it’s always seemed like Leah really wants the Cyborg fight because of who Cyborg is.”
While McCourt stated that she’d love to face Cyborg because of her standing in the sport as one of the greatest female fighters of all time, Hardy suggested that there could be another angle to it, with Cyborg’s fighting style, while ruthlessly effective, pretty easy to predict, while Pacheco’s game is more wide-ranging and potentially trickier to prepare for.
“You know what you’re going to get with Cyborg,” said Hardy.
“It’s going to be a tremendously hard fight. She’s going to try and punch you as hard as she can, but it’s most likely going to be a stand up fight.
“Whereas with Larissa Pacheco, she’s got the ability to take the fight to the ground and grapple like a phenom, as well.
“So, if I was picking a fight, I would go with the name value in Cyborg, and the fact that I kind of know what fight to expect, where I still feel like Larissa Pacheco is developing between fights, which is terrifying.”
Hardy also had a word of warning for anyone thinking that McCourt’s position as the top contender in the division is a foregone conclusion, with Collins arriving in London with an undefeated record, including a split-decision win over McCourt’s past nemesis, Sinead Kavanagh.
“I will say I think we need to keep an eye on Sara Collins, as well,” Hardy warned.
“I don’t think she’s an easy fight for Leah, stylistically. With that head and arm throw that she gets, that harai-goshi, Leah could get stuck on the floor in that position, and not be able to move.”
Bellator Champions Series: London streams live on DAZN in the UK on Saturday, September 14 from 6pm BST.
