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Check out these photos from Isaiah Pinson vs. Denzel Freeman at 2023 PFL 5 in Atlanta.
Check out these photos from[autotag] Isaiah Pinson[/autotag]’s victory over Denzel Freeman at 2023 PFL 5 at Overtime Elite Arena in Atlanta. (Photos courtesy of Cooper Neill, PFL MMA)
Check out these photos from the 2023 PFL 4 ceremonial weigh-ins and fighter faceoffs in Atlanta
Check out these photos from the 2023 PFL 5 ceremonial weigh-ins and fighter faceoffs in Atlanta. (Photos courtesy of Cooper Neill, PFL MMA)
Check out our staff members’ picks for the PFL Week 5 main card in Atlanta.
| Delija vs. Greene |
Leibrock vs. Pacheco |
Ladd vs. Sobek |
Ferreira vs. Scheffel |
|
| MMA Junkie readers’ consensus picks 89-55 |
 Delija (82%) |
 Pacheco (90%) |
 Ladd (76%) |
 Ferreira (73%) |
| Matt Erickson @MattE 94-50 |
Delija |
Pacheco |
Ladd |
Ferreira |
| Nolan King @mma_kings 91-53 |
Delija |
Pacheco |
Ladd |
Ferreira |
| Matthew Wells @MrMWells 90-54 |
Delija |
Pacheco |
Ladd |
Ferreira |
| Simon Samano @SJSamano 90-54 |
Delija |
Pacheco |
Ladd |
Ferreira |
| George Garcia @MMAjunkieGeorge 87-57 |
Delija |
Pacheco |
Ladd |
Ferreira |
| Mike Bohn @MikeBohn 85-59  2014 Champion |
Delija |
Pacheco |
Ladd |
Ferreira |
| Ken Hathaway @kenshathaway -84-60 2018, 2022 Champion |
Delija |
Pacheco |
Ladd |
 Scheffel |
| Farah Hannoun @Farah_Hannoun 83-61 |
Delija |
Pacheco |
Ladd |
Ferreira |
| Abbey Subhan @kammakaze 81-63 |
Delija |
Pacheco |
Ladd |
Ferreira |
| Brian Garcia @thegoze 79-65 2017 Champion |
Delija |
Pacheco |
Ladd |
Ferreira |
| Danny Segura @dannyseguratv 78-66 |
Delija |
Pacheco |
Ladd |
Ferreira |
The PFL’s regular season continues this week with the second of three straight events in Atlanta.
PFL 2023, Week 5 takes place Friday at Overtime Elite Arena in Atlanta. The main card airs on ESPN following prelims on ESPN+.
(Click here to open a PDF of the staff picks grid in a separate window.)
Week 5 features women’s featherweights and heavyweights looking to punch their tickets to the postseason. The main card features Ante Delija vs. Maurice Greene and Renan Ferreira vs. Matheus Scheffel at heavyweight and Amber Leibrock vs. 2022 season winner Larissa Pacheco and Aspen Ladd vs. Karolina Sobek.
Check out all the picks above.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for PFL 2023, Week 5.
Check out the full weigh-in results for 2023 PFL 5, which had one miss out of 24 fighters competing.
All 24 fighters competing at 2023 PFL 5 stepped on the scale, but not all made weight.
At Thursday’s official weigh-ins, only one fighter was unable to reach the contracted weight – [autotag]Evelyn Martins[/autotag]. She came in at 147 pounds, one over the allowance for the women’s featherweight division. Martins will get a point deducted from the result of the fight, and her opponent [autotag]Marina Mokhnatkina[/autotag] will also receive 20 percent of Martins’s purse.
Everyone one else on the card made weight, including the heavyweight main event between [autotag]Ante Delija[/autotag] and [autotag]Maurice Greene[/autotag], as well as the co-main event of [autotag]Larissa Pacheco[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Amber Leibrock[/autotag].
2023 PFL 5 takes place Friday at Overtime Elite Arena in Atlanta. The main card airs on ESPN following prelims on ESPN+
Below you can find the full results from the weigh-ins:
MAIN CARD (ESPN/ESPN+, 10 p.m. ET)
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 6:30 p.m. ET)
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for PFL 2023, Week 5.
We want your predictions for Friday’s PFL 2023, Week 5 event in Atlanta.
We want your predictions for Friday’s PFL 2023, Week 5 event in Atlanta.
Our staff picks feature includes the consensus picks from MMA Junkie readers. Simply cast your vote for each bout below, and we’ll use the official tallies that are registered by Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET (6 p.m. PT).
Those MMA Junkie reader consensus picks will be part of the PFL 2023, Week 5 main card staff predictions we release Thursday ahead of the event. PFL 2023, Week 5 takes place Friday at Overtime Elite Arena in Atlanta. The main card airs on ESPN following prelims on ESPN+.
Make your picks for the fights below.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for PFL 2023, Week 5.
Here’s what you need to know ahead of 2023 PFL 5 in Atlanta.
The second half of the PFL’s regular season continues this week with 2023 PFL 5, which features featherweights and light heavyweights in action for the second time this year.
Here’s how to watch PFL 5, with a complete lineup and breakdown by division.
Olena Kolesnyk enters 2023 PFL 5 with some seriously violent intentions for Yoko Higashi.
[autotag]Olena Kolesnyk[/autotag] knows a lackluster performance won’t suffice when she steps in the cage against Yoko Higashi at 2023 PFL 5
With two points in the women’s featherweight regular season standings, Kolesnyk (8-5) currently finds herself on the outside looking in on the playoff picture. Depending on how the other fighters in the division play out, she’s almost guaranteed to need a finish when she meets Higashi (8-3) on June 16 at Overtime Elite Arena in Atlanta. The card airs on ESPN and streams on ESPN+.
The significance of the moments, and the manner in which she wins, is not lost on Kolesnyk.
“The main goal for right now is the next fight is to get to semifinal,” Kolesnyk told MMA Junkie Radio. To get to semifinal, I need to not just win against the girl – I need to kill her. To kill her as soon as possible, first or second round, to get more points. Of course anything can happen and even the girls who get points, you never know what could happen.
“It’s a girl world. They can be pregnant, they can not make weight, not be in a good mood. These girls got their points bigger than I am now, but who knows what happens in Atlanta, Georgia? From my side, I’ll do my best.”
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Kolesnyk managed to make the playoffs in PFL’s 2022 season, but was quickly bounced when she suffered a first-round TKO loss to eventually champion Larissa Pacheco. She’s been keen to right that wrong ever since, but knows she won’t have any chance of facing Pacheco if she doesn’t take care of business in the regular season.
“All I dream about when I wake up and I go to sleep is to make to the semifinal of the PFL,” Kolesnyk said.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for 2023 PFL 5.
With zero points in the women’s featherweight standings, Aspen Ladd intends on fighting with urgency in her second PFL fight of the season.
[autotag]Aspen Ladd[/autotag] is behind the 8 ball, and she knows it, which is why her mindset heading into her next fight is slightly different.
Ladd (10-4) takes on Karolina Sobek (4-1) in her second women’s featherweight bout of the season at 2023 PFL 5 on June 16 at Overtime Elite Arena in Atlanta. Both fighters enter the matchup under less-than-ideal circumstances after losing their season openers this past April at PFL 2.
Ten weeks later and with zero points in the standings, it’ll take a first-round finish worth six points for Ladd to assure herself a spot in the playoffs. A second-round finish (five points) likely would also do the trick. Winning a decision isn’t something she can afford to risk.
Pressure, you say? Ladd admits she’s feeling it, but it doesn’t bother her much.
“Definitely, especially going into this one,” Ladd told MMA Junkie Radio. “I need as many points as possible. Going into it, it’s basically trying to treat it like a 5-minute fight.”
She continued, “Any fight I’ve been in is pressure. It’s a different type of pressure with the points system and how much rides on this next one, so there’s definitely that. Can’t BS any slow start this time.”
That’s what happened in Ladd’s majority decision loss to Olena Kolesnyk. Ladd struggled in the early rounds and didn’t get going until Round 3, which she dominated. By that point, it was too little too late.
Ladd said that won’t be the case this time.
“More urgency,” Ladd said of what she needs vs. Sobek. “I started too slow. I went back and watched it, and there’s certain things that I wasn’t doing on my takedowns. I was getting in just fine, but I was transitioning out way too soon. …
“It’s all me. It’s in the head, it’s in the mindset, not overthinking things. It’s really just that – not overthinking it, just going in and performing.”
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One thing Ladd likes about matching up with Sobek is that she, too, should feel the same urgency given she also needs maximum points to advance.
“I hope so,” Ladd said. “It sucks when you have opponents that don’t necessarily want to engage. The most entertaining types of fights and most fun to be in are when you go out there and you both want it.”
For more on the card, check out MMA Junkie’s event hub for 2023 PFL 5.
The 2023 PFL regular season schedule is complete as the promotion will head to Atlanta for the second straight year.
The PFL is headed back to Atlanta.
On Thursday, the promotion announced 2023 second-half regular season dates, all of which will take place at Overtime Elite Arena, a venue the promotion visited for the first time last season.
The three events are set for June 8, June 16, and June 23 and will feature the final regular season matchups for competitors across all six weight classes. The events will stream on ESPN and ESPN+.
The weight classes for each date are as follows:
𝐀𝐓𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐀! Get Ready! PFL returns to the @OvertimeElite Arena! #2023PFL4: June 8th#2023PFL5: June 16th#2023PFL6: June 23rd pic.twitter.com/2nm9anlZ0M
— PFL (@PFLMMA) March 9, 2023
The 2023 PFL regular season kicks off April 1 at The Theater at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas, where the first half of the regular season is scheduled to take place over the course of three consecutive weekends.
