2021 City Kickboxing Tracker: Genah Fabian vs Kayla Harrison Preview (PFL Lightweight Women's Semi-Final)
City Kickboxing haven't had any UFC fights during Aotearoa's winter months, beneath the radar though there are two major Kiwi-MMA angles out of Team CKB with Mike 'Blood Diamond' Mathetha grabbing a UFC contract and wahine toa Genah Fabian storming through the PFL Lightweight Women's Tournament. I suspect we will see Blood Diamond feature on upcoming UFC cards that feature other CKB fighters to round off 2021, so I'll go deeper into previewing his first UFC fight when we get those details.
Right now it's all about Fabian as she fights Kayla Harrison tomorrow in the PFL Lightweight Women's Semi-Final. Aotearoa is in lockdown and that's perfectly timed as the 'PFL Playoffs' will be broadcasted on Sky Sport 2 from 9:30am - 3:30pm. As this Harrison vs Fabian fight headlines this event, expect the fight to take place later on in that window between 2-3pm.
Harrison will likely be the favourite for this fight vs Fabian as she won this tournament in 2019 and an example of where these two fighters stand was Harrison headlining PFL 6 in June, while Fabian fought on the undercard. Now it's Harrison vs Fabian headlining this PFL Playoffs card, while the other women's lightweight semi-final is on the undercard. Harrison is the leader of PFL women's Mixed Martial Arts and her 10-0 MMA record is nicely split with four wins via submission and four via KO/TKO.
Those submission victories come from Harrison's judo background where she won Olympic gold medals in London and Rio de Janiero. Not only is Fabian coming up against the PFL women's leader, she is coming up against someone who is well versed in all aspects of MMA. This plays into the Team CKB style that has been crystal clear in their UFC work as they combine world-class striking with adequate takedown defence and now we'll see Fabian test that out.
Fabian's first fight of 2021 was a decision victory over Laura Sanchez back in May, before grabbing a TKO win over Julija Pajic in June. Fabian is a typical Team CKB striker leading the PFL Lightweight Women for 'leg strikes' and as Fabian is taller with greater reach than Harrison, this could be a key factor for Fabian to target.
Fabian is listed at 6'0" with 74" reach and Harrison is 5'8" with 66" reach. Based on what we know about Team CKB, Fabian will use this to her advantage with precise striking from distance to control the fight and limit Harrison's takedown attempts. Team CKB has consistently shown top-tier fakes and manipulation of their opponent by showing a range of possible strikes that get a reaction; Israel Adesanya is the best at this and Fabian could show these wrinkles to trouble Harrison.
While Team CKB is predominantly operating in the UFC, this fight puts Aotearoa combat sports in the spotlight as kickboxing legend Ray Sefo is the PFL President. Sefo was born and raised in Auckland, coming up through Balmoral Lee Gar and there is clear lineage between Balmoral Lee Gar and City Kickboxing. Many of the CKB coaches also came up through Balmoral Lee Gar with Sefo and coach Lolo Heimuli, not Sefo is overseeing Fabian's rise through PFL.
For Fabian, this is a classic battle of her striking and takedown defence against Harrison's takedown threats. Take care of Harrison in this semi-final and Fabian will be fizzing with confidence heading into the final, which would swing around right when Team CKB are getting busy in the UFC octagon.
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