PFL featherweight Olena Kolesnyk is her own worst critic — but that has actually helped the Ukrainian fighter throughout her combat sports career.
“I’ll be honest with you, I have some, I wouldn’t call it a problem, because it helped me for my fight career, I think it’s more a problem for my personal life. I’m never happy with myself,” Kolesnyk (8-5, 1NC) told Cageside Press in an exclusive interview ahead of her return to action this Friday at PFL 5, where she faces Yoko Higashi. “So as soon as my hand’s raised up, it does not mean I’m happy, totally happy. I’m happy for the work we’ve done, with my team, but as soon as I re-watch my fights, I always criticize myself, even if I landed some good punches or a defense from good shots, or I just threw my opponent.”
Regardless of outcome, Kolesnyk, who is coming off a win over Aspen Ladd, still tells herself things like “okay, I can turn my hips here better, you can land this punch better, if you landed this, not middle kick, if you landed the high kick, she would be KO’d in the second round.”
“I never felt like ‘oh, job was done.’ I always know that there’s a lot of work, and I just want to be the best version of myself. I’m really hungry for knowledge, I’m really hungry to be the best. I want to be the best in striking, I want to be the best in grappling, in wrestling, in jiu-jitsu, in everything.”
Kolesnyk wants to not just be a world champion, but a complete mixed martial artist as well.
The 33-year old also takes her job as a role model quite seriously. “That’s why I feel a lot of, I wouldn’t say pressure, but a lot of people from Europe, from my country, I’m an example for them. Especially for girls. So I try to work harder and harder to make my technique better, to show them how it’s supposed to be. I’m the biggest critic of myself.”
With that in mind, Kolesnyk calls herself “blessed” to be part of the PFL’s tournament format. “It gives you an opportunity to fight from fight to fight. All you need to do is just win, and become better.”
Later, she would explain that “I love to punch people, and I love to be punched. For right now, at this moment, I do exactly what I love to do for my living. It’s not only a job for me, it’s what I love to do. I like to feel this fear, I like to compete, I like to step into the octagon, I like to hear the audience, I like to hear the lock is closed. And I like to feel ‘okay, now it’s my Rome, now it’s my Colosseum.” The judges are her Caesar, Kolesnyk added, giving the thumbs up or thumbs down.
Ahead of her last fight, Kolesnyk notoriously shaved her head to make weight. While many have suggested that route for female fighters struggling at the scale, the fighter known as “Cannon” Kolesnyk is one of the few to have actually done it.
As it turns out, she’d do it again, despite preferring a feminine look outside the cage. “If I need to be bald again, I will do it without hesitation. Because a sports life is a really short life.”
Watch our full interview with 2023 PFL 5 women’s featherweight Olena Kolesnyk above.
