Olena Kolesnyk has quite the hole to dig out of at PFL 8.
On Friday, Kolesnyk faces 2022 PFL lightweight tournament winner Larissa Pacheco in the semifinals of the PFL’s 2023 women’s featherweight playoffs; however, on Thursday morning, Kolesnyk failed to make weight for her tournament bout, coming in at 147.8 pounds, 1.8 pounds over the allowable 146-pound limit. Per the PFL’s rules, tournament fighters who fail to make weight are docked one point heading into their bout, meaning Kolesnyk now finds herself needing a dominant showing over Pacheco if she wishes to advance to the tournament finals. Kolesnyk will also forfeit 20 percent of her purse to Pacheco.
⚖️Olena Kolesnyk missed the Women’s Featherweight limit
Her bout against Larissa Pacheco is still on. She will forfeit 20% of her show’s purse to her opponent.
[Friday, August 18th | 7:00pm ET on ESPN+ | 9pm ET on ESPN | #PFLPlayoffs] pic.twitter.com/4dX37u6aC8
— PFL (@PFLMMA) August 17, 2023
This is Kolesnyk’s third season in the PFL, but first competing at featherweight. Previously the Ukrainian fighter failed to make the 2021 lightweight playoffs after getting knocked out by Pacheco in the first round. In 2022, Kolesnyk did make the playoffs but once again had her title hopes dashed when Pacheco again knocked her out in the first round. Kolesnyk secured her spot in the playoffs this year with decision wins over Aspen Ladd and Yoko Higashi during the PFL regular season.
Kolesnyk was not the only fighter to miss weight on Thursday. Daiqwon Buckley, who was set to open the show in a heavyweight preliminary fight against Louie Sutherland, came in a whopping 6.4 pounds over the heavyweight limit at 272.4 pounds. There is no word yet on whether Buckley’s fight will continue.
Headliners Renan Ferreira and Maurice Greene both successfully made weight to make their heavyweight semi-final fight official.
Check out PFL 8 weigh-in results below:
Renan Ferreira (259.6) vs. Maurice Greene (261.8) – heavyweight semi-final bout
Larissa Pacheco (146) vs. Olena Kolesnyk (147.8)* – featherweight semi-final bout
Denis Goltsov (243) vs. Jordan Heiderman (247.2) – heavyweight semi-final bout
Marina Mokhnatkina (145) vs. Amber Leibrock (145.8) – featherweight semi-final bout
Nathan Kelly (145.4) vs. Damion Nelson (145.8)
Danilo Marques (248) vs. Satoshi Ishii (240.2)
Kaytlin Neil (125.8) vs. Maíra Mazar (125.6)
Louis Sutherland (250.6) vs. Daiqwon Buckley (272.4)**
* Olena Kolesnyk misses weight by 1.8 pounds, fight will go on as scheduled with Kolesnyk forfeiting 20 percent of her purse to Pacheco
** Daiqwon Buckley misses weight by 6.4 pounds, fight will proceed as a super heavyweight bout with Buckley forfeiting 20 percent of his purse
*** Eddie George vs. Chris Mixan is off due to the NYSAC decision to not license Mixan