Friday night’s PFL Card 5 in Atlanta, Georgia was exciting – and more than a little confusing.
Olena Kolesnyk left her fate to the fighting gods at the event, or so it seemed. At least she seemed to be leaving it up to her contemporaries in the women’s featherweight division.
Kolesnyk earned three points thanks to a decision win over Yoko Higashi on the raw card at the Overtime Elite Arena in Atlanta. That gave her a total of five points for the season – but also meant that the possibility of being eliminated and missing out on the playoffs was very real.
On the PFL broadcast, which showed Kolesnyk watching from behind, she needed to fight Aspen Ladd with Karolina Sobek longer than two rounds, or have Larissa Pacheco launch a volley in the co-main event.
Ladd wasn’t willing to go easy, securing an armbar submission with seconds remaining in the second round of her fight. That left Kolesnyk seemingly on the bubble, hoping to lose Pacheco – until PFL broadcast issued a correction: given Kolesnyk’s win over Ladd, the Ukrainian featherweight was in fact separating the two. Since they both had five points for the season, Kolesnyk was seeded ahead of Ladd.
That left Ladd needing Pacheco to score a goose egg in her fight with Amber Leibrock. But Pacheco had other plans. She came out with her guns blazing, scoring a quick six after Leibrock rallied with a right and rights. The victory propelled her to the top of the PFL women’s featherweight standings. Pacheco heads into the post-season looking to become the promotion’s first fighter to win titles in two separate weight classes, with the Brazilian claiming the lightweight gold a year ago.
The heavyweight division was another story. The returning champ was Ante DeLiga, after missing the first fight of the season, who needed an early finish on Friday. Against Morris Green, however, he lacked urgency early on, and became dominant later in the match.
That was enough for Delia to pick up the win and eliminate Green from the postseason. However, Delija will not make a move on either of them. Renan Ferreira, Jordan Heidermann and Marcelo Nunes, who all finished in the first round on Friday, vaulted into the playoff spots, joining Denis Goltsov, who earned 12 points on the season with back-to-back first-round finishes.
The post-season women’s heavyweight and featherweight divisions are as follows:
2023 PFL Heavyweight Semifinal Rounds
- Denis Goltsov vs. Jordan Heidermann
- Renan Ferrara vs. Marcelo Nunes
2023 PFL Women’s Featherweight Semifinal Rounds
- Larissa Pacheco vs. Olena Kolesnik
- Marina El Makhanna vs. Amber LeBrock