What to watch in the PFL’s 2022 season

PFL officials speak of Kayla Harrison with reverence, as though watching her perform is the most exhilarating experience in all of MMA. Who can blame them? Harrison is 12-0 and has mauled everyone in her path to becoming a two-time champion in the PFL women’s lightweight division. She is by far the fight company’s biggest star.

And yet it could not have been easy for the PFL folks to see Harrison at the fights in November and December.

That’s because PFL season had ended in October, and with that, Harrison’s contract had expired. And as soon as she hit free agency, she was being hosted — and courted — at fight nights by the sport’s biggest promotions.

On Nov. 12, Harrison was cageside at Bellator 271 watching Cris Cyborg defend her featherweight title. On Dec. 11, Harrison was at UFC 269 watching Amanda Nunes, her now-former teammate, put her bantamweight belt on the line. Would one of these women be the big-name opponent in Harrison’s future?

“She was the most coveted free agent out there,” Peter Murray, CEO of the PFL, told ESPN last week. “Multiple MMA organizations wanted to sign Kayla.”

Bellator even came to an agreement with Harrison on a deal. But the PFL had a contractual right to match, and the company quickly did so to keep its star performer in the fold.

Murray did not seem at all jilted by Harrison having embraced the advances of another suitor. He characterized the whole episode in purely business terms. “Based on the constructs of our deal, she checked her value in the market and we matched,” Murray said. “We got to a good place in the end. This is a great deal for Kayla, and it’s a great deal for the PFL.”

Harrison begins her quest for a third straight championship on May 6 at PFL 3. But the season begins this Wednesday with light heavyweight and men’s lightweight competition, featuring a pair of defending champions — Antonio Carlos Junior at 205 pounds, Raush Manfio at 155 — plus the PFL debut of longtime UFC lightweight Jeremy Stephens.

As the…