PFL 8 Odds, Picks and Betting Preview – Harrison vs Fabian

• The heavyweight and women’s lightweight semifinals take place on Thursday, August 19, 2021
• Kayla Harrison is a massive favorite in the main event as she looks to repeat as champ
• See the odds, picks, and betting preview for the full 2021 PFL 8 main card, below

The Professional Fighters League is back for the second event of the playoffs on Thursday, August 19th, 2021. The promotion has the heavyweight and women’s lightweight semifinals take place as well as non-tournament bouts filling out the prelims. In the main event of PFL 8, the face of the promotion in Kayla Harrison takes on Genah Fabian as a resounding favorite in the odds. The co-main event sees Bruno Cappelozza take on Jamelle Jones

For those that might not know, PFL is a regular-season and playoff format like stick and ball sports. The winner of the tournament also gets $1 million at the end of the year.

PFL 8 main card airs live on ESPN and ESPN+ at 9 PM EST on Thursday, August 19th from the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Florida. The table below shows odds for the main card at DraftKings followed by best bets.

PFL 8 Odds

All odds as of August 17 at DraftKings

Can Fabian Pull Off the Upset?

PFL built the women’s lightweight division around Kayla Harrison who is a two-time Olympic gold medalist and has been undefeated in MMA and a massive favorite in nearly all her fights.

Harrison & Fabian Recent Fights

Although Fabian does have a good ground game, she will likely be completely overmatched here. Harrison has been able to take all of her opponents down with ease, and once she gets them down, she lands vicious ground and pound and either gets the TKO or gets ahold of an arm or their neck and submits them.

For Fabian to win this fight, she will need to keep it standing as she is the better striker than Harrison on the feet. Yet, her takedown defense does leave a lot to be desired and I do expect we will see her on her back in this fight.

Harrison & Fabian Stats

Fabian has the size and reach advantage, and if she just uses her jab to not let Harrison inside, she could make this a boring fight and likely win a decision. Yet, I don’t see that happening as Harrison is super aggressive and always comes forward and eventually gets ahold of you and uses her Judo throw to get her opponent down.

In this fight, I expect the same as Fabian will be on her bike moving around and using her jab to not let Harrison get close. However, once she does and gets Fabian down, she will be able to land heavy shots and likely get ahold of her arm and submit her in the first or second round to advance to the finals. Although Harrison doesn’t provide a ton of value in her moneyline odds at PFL 8, her odds to win by KO/TKO/DQ are listed at +100 at DraftKings.

Pick: Kayla Harrison (-1000)

Will Cappelozza Continue His PFL Success?

Bruno Cappelozza went 2-0 with two first-round finishes, which went a combined 3:07. Jones, meanwhile, was a late addition to PFL and only had one regular-season fight but made good of it as he scored a first-round knockout. That win earned him six points to advance to the playoffs.

Cappelozza & Jones Recent Fights

This fight could very well come down to who lands first as both men will look to keep to standing and have one-punch KO power. However, Cappelozza is the more technical striker as he will look to find the right shot while Jones will look to brawl and try and catch the Brazilian.

I expect Jones to come out aggressive and Cappelozza to take his time and eventually catch him with something big that drops the American, and he finishes it off via ground and pound in the first round.

Pick: Bruno Cappelozza (-200)

Other PFL 8 Picks:

1. Larissa Pacheco (-335): This is a total mismatch as Pacheco will be able to control where the fight takes place and likely win a decision or late TKO.
2. Denis Goltsov (-195): Goltsov should be able to keep it standing and catch the chin of Delija and get the KO victory.