Olena Kolesnyk Obsessed with Winning a PFL Championship in 2023, ‘That’s All I Want’

The 2022 Professional Fighters League season might not have gone according to plan for Olena Kolesnyk, but the optimistic Ukrainian is sure 2023 will be her year.

Kolesnyk (7-5, 1 NC; 2-3 PFL) started the regular season on the right foot after edging Abigail Montes via split decision in May. Subsequently, she dominated Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran Vanessa Melo en route to a unanimous decision. Unfortunately, her dreams of glory were shuttered by Larissa Pacheco for a second time as Pacheco once again scored a first-round stoppage, the sole foe to have stopped “Cannon” with punches in her long combat sports career. While talking with Sherdog, Kolesnyk revealed that she will be part of the upcoming regular season at either lightweight or featherweight, and aims to win the title no matter in what weight category.

“I feel great at 155. I feel great, but if I need to cut weight to 145, I will do it. As you see, on Nov. 25, they will fight at 145. You wanna me at 145? I will be at 145. But I wanna a belt of PFL. That's all I want. I fought 15 years of my life with blood, sweat, crying, all this stuff. All I dream about. It’s the belt. Somebody dreams about husband, I dream about the belt. Fighting is a type of my personality, type of my spirit. When I come into the cage, the show is started. I feel like Maximus the gladiator in the arena.”

(00:00) Intro
(00:16) Wanting the PFL belt very much
(03:12) Defeating Vanessa Melo
(04:53) Commenting on the PFL’s choice for this year’s final alternate
(06:51) Losing twice to Pacheco
(08:21) Her plans for next year
(09:41) Dreaming about the PFL belt
(10:20) The importance of winning the PFL belt
(12:32) Her message for Ukraine
(14:48) Seeing whales for the first time in her life
(17:45) Picking Kayla Harrison vs. Larissa Pacheco
(19:05) Outro